A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN by
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.
Original source: info.umd.edu
/info/ReadingRoom/Miscellaneous/VindicationofRights
Digitized August 1993 by:
Paula Gaber
Based on the Everyman's Library edition, originally published
in 1929, reprinted 1992. (Only the introduction is copyrighted.)
ISBN 0 460 87173 0
[Fixed several typos, WT, 9/1/93]
This text is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN.
A VINDICATION OF THE
RIGHTS OF WOMAN
BY
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION
After considering the historic page, and viewing the living world
with anxious solicitude, the most melancholy emotions of sorrowful
indignation have depressed my spirits, and I have sighed when
obliged to confess that either Nature has made a great difference
between man and man, or that the civilisation which has hitherto
taken place in the world has been very partial. I have turned over
various books written on the subject of education, and patiently
observed the conduct of parents and the management of schools; but
what has been the result?--a profound conviction that the neglected
education of my fellow-creatures is the grand source of the misery
I deplore, and that women, in particular, are rendered weak and
wretched by a variety of concurring causes, originating from one
hasty conclusion. The conduct and manners of women, in fact,
evidently prove that their minds are not in a healthy state; for,
like the flowers which are planted in too rich a soil, strength and
usefulness are sacrificed to beauty; and the flaunting leaves,
after having pleased a fastidious eye, fade, disregarded on the
stalk, long before the season when they ought to have arrived at
maturity. One cause of this barren blooming I attri- bute to a
false system of education, gathered from the books written on this
subject by men who, considering females rather as women than human
creatures, have been more anxious to make them alluring mistresses
than affectionate wives and rational mothers; and the understanding
of the sex has been so bubbled by this specious homage, that the
civilised women of the present century, with a few exceptions, are
only anxious to inspire love, when they ought to cherish a nobler
ambition, and by their abilities and virtues exact respect.
In a treatise, therefore, on female rights and manners, the works
which have been particularly written for their improve- ment must
not be overlooked, especially when it is asserted, in direct terms,
that the minds of women are enfeebled by false refinement; that the
books of instruction, written by men of genius, have had the same
tendency as more frivolous productions; and that, in the true style
of Mahometanism, they are treated as a kind of subordinate beings,
and not as a part of the human species, when improvable reason is
allowed to be the dignified distinction which raises men above the
brute creation, and puts a natural sceptre in a feeble hand.
Yet, because I am a woman, I would not lead my readers to suppose
that I mean violently to agitate the contested question respecting
the quality or inferiority of the sex; but as the subject lies in
my way, and I cannot pass it over without subjecting the main
tendency of my reasoning to misconstruction, I shall stop a moment
to deliver, in a few words, my opinion. In the government of the
physical world it is observable that the female in point of
strength is, in general, inferior to the male. This is the law of
Nature; and it does not appear to be suspended or abrogated in
favour of woman. A degree of physical superiority cannot,
therefore, be denied, and it is a noble prerogative! But not
content with this natural preeminence, men endeavour to sink us
still lower, merely to render us alluring objects for a moment; and
women, intoxicated by the adoration which men, under the influence
of their senses, pay them, do not seek to obtain a durable interest
in their hearts, or to become the friends of the fellow-creatures
who find amusement in their society.
I am aware of an obvious inference. From every quarter have I heard
exclamations against masculine women, but where are they to be
found? If by this appellation men mean to inveigh against, their
ardour in hunting, shooting, and gaming, I shall most cordially
join in the cry; but if it be against the imitation of manly
virtues, or, more properly speaking, the attainment of those
talents and virtues, the exercise of which ennobles the human
character, and which raises females in the scale of animal being,
when they are comprehensively termed mankind, all those who view
them with a philosophic eye must, I should think, wish with me,
that they may every day grow more and more masculine.
This discussion naturally divides the subject. I shall first
consider women in the gland light of human creatures, who in common
with men, are placed on this earth to unfold their faculties; and
afterwards I shall more particularly point out their peculiar
designation.
I wish also to steer clear of an error which many respectable
writers have fallen into; for the instruction which has hitherto
been addressed to women, has rather been applicable to ladies, if
the little indirect advice that is scattered through "Sandford and
Merton" be excepted; but, addressing my sex in a firmer tone, I pay
particular attention to those in the middle class, because they
appear to be in the most natural state. Perhaps the seeds of false
refinement, immorality, and vanity, have ever been shed by the
great. Weak, artificial beings, raised above the common wants and
affections of their race, in a premature unnatural manner,
undermine the very foundation of virtue, and spread corruption
through the whole mass of society! As a class of mankind they have
the strongest claim to pity; the education of the rich tends to
render them vain and helpless, and the unfolding mind is not
strengthened by the practice of those duties which dignify the
human character. They only live to amuse themselves, and by the
same law which in Nature invariably produces certain effects, they
soon only afford barren amusement.
But as I purpose taking a separate view of the different ranks of
society, and of the moral character of women in each, this hint is
for the present sufficient; and I have only alluded to the subject
because it appears to me to be the very essence of an introduction
to give a cursory account of the contents of the work it
introduces.
My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational
creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and
viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood,
unable to stand alone. I earnestly wish to point out in what true
dignity and human happiness consists. I wish to persuade women to
endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to
convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart,
delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost
synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are
only the objects of pity, and that kind of love which has been
termed its sister, will soon become objects of contempt.
Dismissing, then, those pretty feminine phrases, which the men
condescendingly use to soften our slavish dependence, and despising
that weak elegancy of mind, exquisite sensibility, and sweet
docility of manners, supposed to be the sexual charac- teristics of
the weaker vessel, I wish to show that elegance is inferior to
virtue, that the first object of laudable ambition is to obtain a
character as a hurnan being, regardless of the distinction of sex,
and that secondary views should be brought to this simple
touchstone.
This is a rough sketch of my plan; and should I express my
conviction with the energetic emotions that I feel whenever I think
of the subject, the dictates of experience and reflection will be
felt by some of my readers. Animated by this important object, I
shall disdain to cull my phrases or polish my style. I aim at being
useful, and sincerity will render me unaffected; for, wishing
rather to persuade by the force of my arguments than dazzle by the
elegance of my language, I shall not waste my time in rounding
periods, or in fabricating the turgid bombast of artificial
feelings, which, coming from the head, never reach the heart. I
shall be employed about things, not words! and, anxious to render
my sex more respectable members of society, I shall try to avoid
that flowery diction which has slided from essays into novels, and
from novels into familiar letters and conversation.
These pretty superlatives, dropping glibly from the tongue, vitiate
the taste, and create a kind of sickly delicacy that tums away from
simple unadorned truth; and a deluge of false sentiments and
overstretched feelings, stifling the natural emotions of the heart,
render the domestic pleasures insipid, that ought to sweeten the
exercise of those severe duties, which educate a rational and
immortal being for a nobler field of action.
The education of women has of late been more attended to than
formerly; yet they are still reckoned a frivolous sex, and
ridiculed or pitied by the writers who endeavour by satire or
instruction to improve them. It is acknowledged that they spend
many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of
accomplishments; meanwhile strength of body and mind are sacrificed
to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing
themselves--the only way women can nse in the world--by marriage.
And this desire making mere animals of them, when they marry they
act as such children may be expected to act,--they dress, they
paint, and nickname God's creatures. Surely these weak beings are
only fit for a seraglio! Can they be expected to govern a family
with judgment, or take care of the poor babes whom they bring into
the world?
If, then, it can be fairly deduced from the present conduct of the
sex, from the prevalent fondness for pleasure which takes place of
ambition and those nobler passions that open and enlarge the soul,
that the instruction which women have hitherto received has only
tended, with the constituion of civil society, to render them
insignificant objects of desire -- mere propagators of fools! --
if it can be proved that in aiming to accomplish them, without
cultivating their understandings, they are taken out of their
sphere of duties, and made ridiculous and useless when the
short-lived bloom of beauty is over,[1] I presume that rational men
will excuse me for endeavouring to persuade them to become more
masculine and respectable.
Indeed the word masculine is only a bugbear; there is little reason
to fear that women will acquire too much courage or fortitude, for
their apparent inferiority with respect to bodily strength must
render them in some degree dependent on men in the various
relations of life; but why should it be increased by prejudices
that give a sex to virtue, and confound simple truths with sensual
reveries?
Women are, in fact, so much degraded by mistaken notions of female
excellence, that I do not mean to add a paradox when I assert that
this artificial weakness produces a propensity to tyrannise, and
gives birth to cunning, the natural opponent of strength, which
leads them to play off those contemptible infantine airs that
undermine esteem even whilst they excite desire. Let men become
more chaste and modest, and if women do not grow wiser in the same
ratio, it will be clear that they have weaker understandings. It
seems scarcely necessary to say that I now speak of the sex in
general. Many individuals have more sense than their male
relatives; and, as nothing preponderates where there is a constant
struggle for an equilibrium without it has naturally more gravity,
some women govern their husbands without degrading themselves,
because intellect will always govern.
NOTES
[1] A lively writer (I cannot recollect his name) asks what
business women turned of forty have to do in the world?
**********
TO
M. TALLEYRAND-PERIGORD
Late Bishop of Autun
SIR,--Having read with great pleasure a pamphlet which you have
lately published, I dedicate this volume to you--the first
dedication that I have ever written, to induce you to read it with
attention; and, because I think that you will understand me, which
I do not suppose many pert witlings will, who may ridicule the
arguments they are unable to answer. But, sir I carry my respect
for your understanding still farther; so far that I am confident
you will not throw my work aside, and hastily conclude that I am in
the wrong, because you did not view the subject in the same light
yourself. And, pardon my frankness, but I must observe, that you
treated it in too cursory a manner, contented to consider it as it
had been considered formerly, when the rights of man, not to advert
to woman, were trampled on as chimerical--I call upon you,
therefore, now to weigh what I have advanced respecting the rights
of woman and national education; and I call with the firm tone of
humanity, for my arguments, sir, are dictated by a disinterested
spirit--I plead for my sex, not for myself. Independence I have
long considered as the grand blessing of life, the basis of every
virtue; and independence I will ever secure by contracting my
wants, though I were to live on a barren heath.
It is then an affection for the whole human race that makes my pen
dart rapidly along to support what I believe to be the cause of
virtue; and the same motive leads me earnestly to wish to see woman
placed in a station in which she would advance, instead of
retarding, the progress of those glorious principles that give a
substance to morality. My opinion, indeed, respecting the rights
and duties of woman seems to flow so naturally from these simple
principles, that I think it scarcely possible but that some of the
enlarged minds who formed your admirable constitution will coincide
with me.
In France there is undoubtedly a more general diffusion of
knowledge than in any part of the European world, and I attribute
it, in a great measure, to the social intercourse which has long
subsisted between the sexes. It is true--I utter my sentiments with
freedom--that in France the very essence of sensuality has been
extracted to regale the voluptuary, and a kind of sentimental lust
has prevailed, which, together with the system of duplicity that
the whole tenor of their political and civil government taught,
have given a sinister sort of sagacity to the French character,
properly termed finesse, from which naturally flow a polish of
manners that injures the substance by hunting sincerity out of
society. And modesty, the fairest garb of virtue! has been
more-grossly insulted in France than even in England, till their
women have treated as prudish that attention to decency which
brutes instinctively observe.
Manners and morals are so nearly allied that they have often been
confounded; but, though the former should only be the natural
reflection of the latter, yet, when various causes have produced
factitious and corrupt manners, which are very early caught,
morality becomes an empty name. The personal reserve, and sacred
respect for cleanliness and delicacy in domestic life, which French
women almost despise, are the graceful pillars of modesty; but, far
from despising them, if the pure flame of patriotism have reached
their bosoms, they should labour to improve the morals of their
fellow-citizens, by teaching men, not only to respect modesty in
women, but to acquire it themselves, as the only way to merit their
esteem.
Contending for the rights of woman, my main argument is built on
this simple principle, that if she be not prepared by education to
become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of
knowledge and virtue; for truth must be common to all, or it will
be inefficacious with respect to its influence on general practice.
And how can woman be expected to co-operate unless she knows why
she ought to be virtuous? unless freedom strengthens her reason
till she comprehends her duty, and see in what manner it is
connected with her real good. If children are to be educated to
understand the true principle of patriotism, their mother must be
a patriot; and the love of mankind, from which an orderly train of
virtues spring, can only be produced by considering the moral and
civil interest of mankind; but the education and situation of woman
at present shuts her out from such investigations.
In this work I have produced many arguments, which to me were
conclusive, to prove that the prevailing notion respecting a sexual
character was subversive of morality, and I have contended, that to
render the human body and mind more perfect, chastity must more
universally prevail, and that chastity will never be respected in
the male world till the person of a woman is not, as it were,
idolised, when little virtue or sense embellish it with the grand
traces of mental beauty, or the interesting simplicity of
affection.
Consider, sir, dispassionately these observations, for a glimpse of
this truth seemed to open before you when you observed, "that to
see one-half of the human race excluded by the other from all
participation of government was a political phenomenon that,
according to abstract principles, it was impossible to explain." If
so, on what does your constitution rest? If the abstract rights of
man will bear discussion and explanation, those of woman, by a
parity of reasoning, will not shrink from the same test; though a
different opinion prevails in this country, built on the very
arguments which you use to justify the oppression of
woman--prescription.
Consider--I address you as a legislator--whether, when men contend
for their freedom, and to be allowed to judge for themselves
respecting their own happiness, it be not inconsistent and unjust
to subjugate women, even though you firmly believe that you are
acting in the manner best calculated to promote their happiness ?
Who made man the exclusive judge, if woman partake with him of the
gift of reason?
In this style argue tyrants of every denomination, from the weak
king to the weak father of a family; they are all eager to crush
reason, yet always assert that they usurp its throne only to be
useful. Do you not act a similar part when you force all women, by
denying them civil and political rights, to remain immured in their
families groping in the dark? for surely, sir, you will not assert
that a duty can be binding which is not founded on reason? If,
indeed, this be their destination, arguments may be drawn from
reason; and thus augustly supported, the more understanding women
acquire, the more they will be attached to their
duty--comprehending it--for unless they comprehend it, unless their
morals be fixed on the same immutable principle as those of man, no
authority can make them discharge it in a virtuous manner. They may
be convenient slaves, but slavery will have its constant effect,
degrading the master and the abject dependent.
But if women are to be excluded, without having a voice, from ù
participation of the natural rights of mankind, prove first, to
ward off the charge of injustice and inconsistency, that they want
reason, else this flaw in your NEW CONSTITUTION will ever show that
man must, in some shape, act like a tyrant, and tyranny, in
whatever part of society it rears its brazen front, will ever
undermine morality.
I have repeatedly asserted, and produced what appeared to me
irrefragable arguments drawn from matters of fact to prove my
assertion, that women cannot by force be confined to domestic
concerns; for they will, however ignorant, inter- meddle with more
weighty affairs, neglecting private duties only to disturb, by
cunning tricks, the orderly plans of reason which rise above their
comprehension.
Besides, whilst they are only made to acquire personal
accomplishments, men will seek for pleasure in variety, and
faithless husbands will make faithless wives; such ignorant beings,
indeed, will be very excusable when, not taught to respect public
good, nor allowed any civil rights, they attempt to do themselves
justice by retaliation.
The box of mischief thus opened in society, what is to preserve
private virtue, the only security of public freedom and universal
happiness?
Let there be then no coercion established in society, and the
common law of gravity prevailing, the sexes will fall into their
proper places. And now that more equitable laws are forming your
citizens, marriage may become more sacred; your young men may
choose wives from motives of affection, and your maidens allow love
to root out vanity.
The father of a family will not then weaken his constitution and
debase his sentiments by visiting the harlot, nor forget, in
obeying the call of appetite, the purpose for which it was
implanted. And the mother will not neglect her children to practise
the arts of coquetry, when sense and modesty secure her the
friendship of her husband.
But, till men become attentive to the duty of a father, it is vain
to expect women to spend that time in their nursery which they, "
wise in their generation," choose to spend at their glass; for this
exertion of cunning is only an instinct of nature to enable them to
obtain indirectly a little of that power of which they are unjustly
denied a share; for, if women are not permitted to enjoy legitimate
rights, they will render both men and themselves vicious to obtain
illicit privileges.
I wish, sir, to set some investigations of this kind afloat in
France; and should they lead to a confirmation of my principles
when your constitution is revised, the Rights of Woman may be
respected, if it be fully proved that reason calls for this
respect, and loudly demands JUSTICE for one-half of the human race.
I am, Sir,
Yours respectfully,
M. W.
A VINDICATION OF THE
RIGHTS OF WOMAN
BY
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
NOTE
When I began to write this work, I divided it into three parts,
supposing that one volume would contain a full discussion of the
arguments which seemed to me to rise naturally from a few simple
principles; but fresh illustrations occurring as I advanced, I now
present only the first part to the public.
Many subjects, however, which I have cursorily alluded to, call for
particular investigation, especially the laws relative to women,
and the consideration of their peculiar duties. These will furnish
ample matter for a second volume, which in due time will be
published, to elucidate some of the sentiments and complete many of
the sketches begun in the first.
CHAPTER I
THE RIGHTS AND INVOLVED DUTIES OF MANKIND CONSIDERED
In the present state of society it appears necessary to go back to
first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to
dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. To
clear my way, I must be allowed to ask some plain questions, and
the answers will probably appear as unequivocal as the axioms on
which reasoning is built; though, when entangled with various
motives of action, they are formally contradicted, either by the
words or conduct of men.
In what does man's pre-eminence over the brute creation consist?
The answer is as clear as that a half is less than the whole, in
Reason.
What acquirement exalts one being above another? Virtue, we
spontaneously reply.
For what purpose were the passions implanted? That man by
struggling with them might attain a degree of knowledge denied to
the brutes, whispers Experience.
Consequently the perfection of our nature and capability of
happiness must be estimated by the degree of reason, virtue, and
knowledge, that distinguish the individual, and direct the laws
which bind society: and that from the exercise of reason, knowledge
and virtue naturally flow, is equally undeniable, if mankind be
viewed collectively.
The rights and duties of man thus simplified, it seems almost
impertinent to attempt to illustrate truths that appear so
incontrovertible; yet such deeply rooted prejudices have clouded
reason, and such spurious qualities have assumed the name of
virtues, that it is necessary to pursue the course of reason as it
has been perplexed and involved in error, by various adventitious
circumstances, comparing the simple axiom with casual deviations.
Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices,
which they have imbibed, they can scarcely trace how, rather than
to root them out. The mind must be strong that resolutely forms its
own principles; for a kind of intellectual cowardice prevails which
makes many men shrink from the task, or only do it by halves. Yet
the imperfect conclusions thus drawn, are frequently very
plausible, because they are built on partial experience, on just,
though narrow, views.
Going back to first principles, vice skulks, with all its native
deformity, from close investigation; but a set of shallow reasoners
are always exclaiming that these arguments prove too much, and that
a measure rotten at the core may be expedient. Thus expediency is
continually contrasted with simple principles, till truth is lost
in a mist of words, virtue, in forms, and knowledge rendered a
sounding nothing, by the specious prejudices that assume its name.
That the society is formed in the wisest manner, whose constitution
is founded on the nature of man, strikes, in the abstract, every
thinking being so forcibly, that it looks like presumption to
endeavour to bring forward proofs; though proof must be brought, or
the strong hold of prescription will never be forced by reason; yet
to urge prescription as an argument to justify the depriving men
(or women) of their natural rights, is one of the absurd sophisms
which daily insult common sense.
The civilisation of the bulk of the people of Europe is very
partial; nay, it may be made a question, whether they have acquired
any virtues in exchange for innocence, equivalent to the misery
produced by the vices that have been plastered over unsightly
ignorance, and the freedom which has been bartered for splendid
slavery. The desire of dazzling by riches, the most certain
pre-eminence that man can obtain, the pleasure of commanding
flattering sycophants, and many other complicated low calculations
of doting self-love, have all contributed to overwhelm the mass of
mankind, and make liberty a convenient handle for mock patriotism.
For whilst rank and titles are held of the utmost importance,
before which Genius "must hide its diminished head," it is, with a
few exceptions, very unfortunate for a nation when a man of
abilities, without rank or property, pushes himself forward to
notice. Alas ! what unheard-of misery have thousands suffered to
purchase a cardinal's hat for an intriguing obscure adventurer, who
longed to be ranked with princes, or lord it over them by seizing
the triple crown!
Such, indeed, has been the wretchedness that has flowed from
hereditary honours, riches, and monarchy, that men of lively
sensibility have almost uttered blasphemy in order to justify the
dispensations of Providence. Man has been held out as independent
of His power who made him, or as a lawless planet darting from its
orbit to steal the celestial fire of reason; and the vengeance of
Heaven, lurking in the subtile flame, like Pandora's pent-up
mischiefs, sufficiently punished his temerity, by introducing evil
into the world.
Impressed by this view of the misery and disorder which pervaded
society, and fatigued with jostling against artificial fools,
Rousseau became enamoured of solitude, and, being at the same time
an optimist, he labours with uncommon eloquence to prove that man
was naturally a solitary animal. Misled by his respect for the
goodness of God, who certainly--for what man of sense and feeling
can doubt it !--gave life only to communicate happiness, he
considers evil as positive, and the work of man; not aware that he
was exalting one at- tribute at the expense of another, equally
necessary to divine perfection.
Reared on a false hypothesis, his arguments in favour of a state of
nature are plausible, but unsound. I say unsound; for to assert
that B state of nature is preferable to civilisation, in all its
possible perfection, is, in other words, to arraign supreme wisdom;
and the paradoxical exclamation, that God has made all things
right, and that error has been introduced by the creature, whom He
formed, knowing what He formed, is as unphilosophical as impious.
When that wise Being who created us and placed us here, saw the
fair idea, He willed, by allowing it to be so, that the passions
should unfold our reason, because He could see that present evil
would produce future good. Could the helpless creature whom He
called from nothing break loose from His providence, and boldly
learn to know good by practising evil, without His permission ? No.
How could that energetic advocate for immortality argue so
inconsistently ? Had mankind remained for ever in the brutal state
of nature, which even his magic pen cannot paint as a state in
which a single virtue took root, it would have been clear, though
not to the sensitive unreflecting wanderer, that man was born to
run the circle of life and death, and adorn God's garden for some
purpose which could not easily be reconciled with His attributes.
But if, to crown the whole, there were to be rational creatures
produced, allowed to rise in excellence by the exercise of powers
implanted for that purpose; if benignity itself thought fit to call
into existence a creature above the brutes,[1] who could think and
improve himself, why should that inestimable gift, for a gift it
was, if man was so created, as to have a capacity to rise above the
state in which sensation produced brutal ease, be called, in direct
terms, a curse? A curse it might be reckoned, if the whole of our
existence were bounded by our continuance in this world; for why
should the gracious fountain of life give us passions, and the
power of reflecting, only to imbitter our days and inspire us with
mistaken notions of dignity? Why should He lead us from love of
ourselves to the sublime emotions which the discovery of His wisdom
and goodness excites, if these feelings were not set in motion to
improve our nature, of which they make a part,[2] and render us
capable of enjoying a more godlike portion of happiness? Firmly
persuaded that no evil exists in the world that God did not design
to take place, I build my belief on the perfection of God.
Rousseau exerts himself to prove that all was right originally:
a crowd of authors that all is now right: and I, that all will be
right.
But, true to his first position, next to a state of nature,
Rousseau celebrates barbarism, and apostrophising the shade of
Fabricius, he forgets that, in conquering the world, the Romans
never dreamed of establishing their own liberty on a firm basis, or
of extending the reign of virtue. Eager to support his system, he
stigmatises, as vicious, every effort of genius; and, uttering the
apotheosis of savage virtues, he exalts those to demi-gods, who
were scarcely human--the brutal Spartans, who, in defiance of
justice and gratitude, sacrificed, in cold blood, the slaves who
had shown themselves heroes to rescue their oppressors.
Disgusted with artificial manners and virtues, the citizen of
Geneva, instead of properly sifting the subject, threw away the
wheat with the chaff, without waiting to inquire whether the evils
which his ardent soul turned from indignantly, were the consequence
of civilisation or the vestiges of barbarism. He saw vice trampling
on virtue, and the semblance of goodness taking the place of the
reality; he saw talents bent by power to sinister purposes, and
never thought of tracing the gigantic mischief up to arbitrary
power, up to the hereditary distinctions that clash with the mental
superiority that naturally raises a man above his fellows. He did
not perceive that regal power, in a few generations, introduces
idiotism into the noble stem, and holds out baits to render
thousands idle and vicious.
Nothing can set the regal character in a more contemptible point of
view, than the various crimes that have elevated men to the supreme
dignity. Vile intrigues, unnatural crimes, and every vice that
degrades our nature, have been the steps to this distinguished
eminence; yet millions of men have supinely allowed the nerveless
limbs of the posterity of such rapacious prowlers to rest quietly
on their ensanguined thrones.[3]
What but a pestilential vapour can hover over society when its
chief director is only instructed in the invention of crimes, or
the stupid routine of childish ceremonies? Will men never be
wise?--will they never cease to expect corn from tares, and figs
from thistles?
It is impossible for any man, when the most favourable
circumstances concur, to acquire sufficient knowledge and strength
of mind to discharge the duties of a king, entrusted with
uncontrolled power; how then must they be violated when his very
elevation is an insuperable bar to the attainment of either wisdom
or virtue, when all the feelings of a man are stifled by flattery,
and reflection shut out by pleasure! Sure it is madness to make the
fate of thousands depend on the caprice of a weak fellow-creature,
whose very station sinks him necessarily below the meanest of his
subjects ! But one power should not be thrown down to exalt
another--for all power inebriates weak man; and its abuse proves
that the more equality there is established among men, the more
virtue and happiness will reign in society. But this and any
similar maxim deduced from simple reason, raises an outcry--the
Church or the State is in danger, if faith in the wisdom of
antiquity is not implicit; and they who, roused by the sight of
human calamity, dare to attack human authority, are reviled as
despisers of God, and enemies of man. These are bitter calumnies,
yet they reached one of the best of men,[4] whose ashes still
preach
peace, and whose memory demands a respectful pause, when subjects
are discussed that lay so near his heart.
After attacking the sacred majesty of kings, I shall scarcely
excite surprise by adding my firm persuasion that every profession,
in which great subordination of rank constitutes its power, is
highly injurious to morality.
A standing army, for instance, is incompatible with freedom;
because subordination and rigour are the very sinews of military
discipline; and despotism is necessary to give vigour to
enterprises that one will directs. A spirit inspired by romantic
notions of honour, a kind of morality founded on the fashion of the
age, can only be felt by a few officers, whilst the main body must
be moved by command, like the waves of the sea; for the strong wind
of authority pushes the crowd of subalterns forward, they scarcely
know or care why, with headlong fury.
Besides, nothing can be so prejudicial to the morals of the
inhabitants of country towns as the occasional residence of a set
of idle superficial young men, whose only occupation is gallantry,
and whose polished manners render vice more dangerous, by
concealing its deformity under gay ornamental drapery. An air of
fashion, which is but a badge of slavery, and proves that the soul
has not a strong individual character, awes simple country people
into an imitation of the vices, when they cannot catch the slippery
graces, of politeness. Every corps is a chair; of despots, who,
submitting and tyrannising without exercising their reason, become
dead-weights of vice and folly on the community. A man of rank or
fortune, sure of rising by interest, has nothing to do but to
pursue some extravagant freak; whilst the needy gentleman, who is
to rise, as the phrase turns, by his merit, becomes a servile
parasite or vile pander.
Sailors, the naval gentlemen, come under the same description, only
their vices assume a different and a grosser cast. They are more
positively indolent, when not discharging the ceremonials of their
station; whilst the insignificant fluttering of soldiers may be
termed active idleness. More confined to the society of men, the
former acquire a fondness for humour and mischievous tricks; whilst
the latter, mixing frequently with well-bred women, catch a
sentimental cant. But mind is equally out of the question, whether
they indulge the horse- laugh, or polite simper.
May I be allowed to extend the comparison to a profession where
more mind is certainly to be found,--for the clergy have superior
opportunities of improvement, though subordination almost equally
cramps their faculties? The blind submission imposed at college to
forms of belief serves as a novitiate to the curate, who must
obsequiously respect the opinion of his rector or patron, if he
mean to rise in his profession. Perhaps there cannot be a more
forcible contrast than between the servile dependent gait of a poor
curate and the courtly mien of a bishop. And the respect and
contempt they inspire, render the discharge of their separate
functions equally useless.
It is of great importance to observe that the character of every
man is, in some degree, formed by his profession. A man of sense
may only have a cast of countenance that wears off as you trace his
individuality, whilst the weak, common man has scarcely ever any
character, but what belongs to the body; at least, all his opinions
have been so steeped in the vat consecrated by authority, that the
faint spirit which the grape of his own vine yields, cannot be
distinguished.
Society, therefore, as it becomes more enlightened, should be very
careful not to establish bodies of men who must necessarily be made
foolish or vicious by the very constitution of their profession.
In the infancy of society, when men were just emerging out of
barbarism, chiefs and priests, touching the most powerful springs
of savage conduct, hope and fear, must have had unbounded sway. An
aristocracy, of course, is naturally the first form of government.
But, clashing interests soon losing their equipoise, a monarchy and
hierarchy break out of the confusion of ambitious struggles, and
the foundation of both is secured by feudal tenures. This appears
to be the origin of monarchical and priestly power, and the dawn of
civilisation. But such combustible materials cannot long be pent
up; and, getting vent in foreign wars and intestine insurrections,
the people acquire some power in the tumult, which obliges their
rulers to gloss over their oppression with a show of right. Thus,
as wars, agriculture, commerce, and literature, expand the mind,
despots are compelled to make covert corruption hold fast the power
which was formerly snatched by open force.[5] And this baneful
lurking
gangrene is most quickly spread by luxury and superstition, the
sure dregs of ambition. The indolent puppet of a court first
becomes a luxurious monster, or fastidious sensualist, and then
makes the contagion which his unnatural state spread, the
instrument of tyranny.
It is the pestiferous purple which renders the progress of
civilisation a curse, and warps the understanding, till men of
sensibility doubt whether the expansion of intellect produces a
greater portion of happiness or misery. But the nature of the
poison points out the antidote; and had Rousseau mounted one step
higher in his investigation, or could his eye have pierced through
the foggy atmosphere, which he almost disdained to breathe, his
active mind would have darted forward to contemplate the perfection
of man in the establishment of true civilisation, instead of taking
his ferocious flight back to the night of sensual ignorance.
NOTES
[1] Contrary to the opinion of the anatomists, who argye by
analogy from the formation of the teeth, stomach, and intestines,
Rousseau will not allow a man to be a carniverous animal. And,
carried away from nature by a love of system, he disputes whether
man be a gregarious animal, though the long and helpless state of
infancy seems to point him out as particularly impelled to pair,
the first step towards herding.
[2] What would you say to a mechanic whom you had desired to make
a watch to point out the hour of the day, if, to show his
ingenuity, he added wheels to make it a repeater, etc., that
perplexed the simple mechanism; should he urge - to excuse himself
- had you not touched a certain spring, you would have known
nothing of the matter, and that he should have amused himself by
making an experiment without doing you any harm, would you not
retort fairly upon him, bu insisting that if he had not added those
needless wheels and springs, the accident could not have happened?
[3] Could there be a greater insult offered to the rights of man
than the beds of justice in France, when an infant was made the
organ of the detestable Dubois?
[4] Dr. Price.
[5] Men of abilities scatter seeds that grow up and have a great
influence on the forming opinion; and when once the public opinion
preponderates, through the exertion of reason, the overthrow of
arbitrary power is not very distant.
CHAPTER II
THE PREVAILING OPINION OF A SEXUAL CHARACTER DISCUSSED
To account for, and excuse the tyranny of man, many ingenious
arguments have been brought forward to prove, that the two sexes,
in the acquirement of virtue, ought to aim at attaining a very
different character; or, to speak explicitly, women are not allowed
to have sufficient strength of mind to acquire what really deserves
the name of virtue. Yet it should seem, allowing them to have
souls, that there is but one way appointed by Providence to lead
mankind to either virtue or happiness.
If then women are not a swarm of ephemeron triflers, why should
they be kept in ignorance under the specious name of innocence? Men
complain, and with reason, of the follies and caprices of our sex,
when they do not keenly satirise our headstrong passions and
grovelling vices. Behold, I should answer, the natural effect of
ignorance ! The mind will ever be unstable that has only prejudices
to rest on, and the current will run with destructive fury when
there are no barriers to break its force. Women are told from their
infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a little
knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of
temper, outward obedience, and a scrupulous attention to a puerile
kind of propriety, will obtain for them the protection of man; and
should they be beautiful, everything else is needless, for at least
twenty years of their lives.
Thus Milton describes our first frail mother; though when he tells
us that women are formed for softness and sweet attractive grace,
I cannot comprehend his meaning, unless, in the true Mahometan
strain, he meant to deprive us of souls, and insinuate that we were
beings only designed by sweet attractive grace, and docile blind
obedience, to gratify the senses of man when he can no longer soar
on the wing of contemplation.
How grossly do they insult us who thus advise us only to render
ourselves gentle, domestic brutes ! For instance, the winning
softness so warmly and frequently recommended, that governs by
obeying. What childish expressions, and how insignificant is the
being--can it be an immortal one?--who will condescend to govern by
such sinister methods? "Certainly," says Lord Bacon, "man is of kin
to the beasts by his body; and if he be not of kin to God by his
spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature!" Men, indeed, appear to
me to act in a very unphilosophical manner, when they try to secure
the good con- duct of women by attempting to keep them always in a
state of childhood. Rousseau was more consistent when he wished to
stop the progress of reason in both sexes, for if men eat of the
tree of knowledge, women will come in for a taste; but, from the
imperfect cultivation which their understandings now receive, they
only attain a knowledge of evil. Children, I grant, should be
innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is
but a civil term for weakness. For if it be allowed that women were
destined by Providence to acquire human virtues, and, by the
exercise of their understandings, that stability of character which
is the firmest ground to rest our future hopes upon, they must be
permitted to turn to the fountain of light, and not forced to shape
their course by the twinkling of a mere satellite. Milton, I grant,
was of a very different opinion; for he only bends to the
indefeasible right of beauty, though it would be difficult to
render two passages which I now mean to contrast, consistent. But
into similar inconsistencies are great men often led by their
senses:
To whom thus Eve with perfect beauty adorn'd
My author and disposer, what thou bid'st
Unargued I obey; so God ordains.
God is thy law thou mine: to know no more
Is woman's happiest knowledge and her praise.
These are exactly the arguments that I have used to children; but
I have added, your reason is now gaining strength, and, till it
arrives at some degree of maturity, you must look up to me for
advice,--then you ought to think, and only rely on God. Yet in the
following lines Milton seems to coincide with me, when he makes
Adam thus expostulate with his Maker:
Hast Thou not made me here Thy substitute,
And these inferior far beneath me set ?
Among equals what society
Can sort, what harmony or true delight ?
Which must be mutual, in proportion due
Given and received; but in disparity
The one intense, the other still remiss
Cannot well suit with either, but soon prove
Tedious alike: of fellowship I speak
Such as I seek fit to participate
All rational delight--
In treating therefore of the manners of women, let us, disregarding
sensual arguments, trace what we should endeavour to make them in
order to co-operate, if the expression be not too bold, with the
Supreme Being. By individual education, I mean, for the sense of
the word is not precisely defined, such an attention to a child as
will slowly sharpen the senses, form the temper, regulate the
passions as they begin to ferment, and set the understanding to
work before the body arrives at maturity; so that the man may only
have to proceed, not to begin, the important task of learning to
think and reason.
To prevent any misconstruction, I must add, that I do not believe
that a private education can work the wonders which some sanguine
writers have attributed to it. Men and women must be educated, in
a great degree, by the opinions and manners of the society they
live in. In every age there has been a stream of popular opinion
that has carried all before it, and given a family character, as it
were, to the century. It may then fairly be inferred, that, till
society be differently constituted, much cannot be expected from
education. It is, however, sufficient for my present purpose to
assert that, whatever effect circumstances have on the abilities,
every being may become virtuous by the exercise of its own reason;
for if but one being was created with vicious inclinations, that is
positively bad, what can save us from atheism? or if we worship a
God, is not that God a devil?
Consequently, the most perfect education, in my opinion, is such an
exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen
the body and form the heart. Or, in other words, to enable the
individual to attain such habits of virtue as will render it
independent. In fact, it is a farce to call any being virtuous
whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason.
This was Rousseau's opinion respecting men; I extend it to women,
and confidently assert that they have been drawn out of their
sphere by false refinement, and not by an endeavour to acquire
masculine qualities. Still the regal homage which they receive is
so intoxicating, that until the manners of the times are changed,
and formed on more reasonable principles, it may be impossible to
convince them that the illegitimate power which they obtain by
degrading themselves is a curse, and that they must return to
nature and equality if they wish to secure the placid satisfaction
that unsophisticated affections impart. But for this epoch we must
wait--wait perhaps till kings and nobles, enlightened by reason,
and, preferring the real dignity of man to childish state, throw
off their gaudy hereditary trappings; and if then women do not
resign the arbitrary power of beauty--they will prove that they
have less mind than man. XXXXX I may be accused of arrogance; still
I must declare what I firmly believe, that all the writers who have
written on the subject of female education and manners, from
Rousseau to Dr. Gregory, have contributed to render women more
artificial, weak characters, than they would otherwise have been;
and consequently, more useless members of society. I might have
expressed this conviction in a lower key, but I am afraid it would
have been the whine of affectation, and not the faithful expression
of my feelings, of the clear result which experience and reflection
have led me to draw. When I come to that division of the subject,
I shall advert to the passages that I more particularly disapprove
of, in the works of the authors I have just alluded to; but it is
first necessary to observe that my objection extends to the whole
purport of those books, which tend, in my opinion, to degrade
one-half of the human species, and render women pleasing at the
expense of every solid virtue.
Though, to reason on Rousseau's ground, if man did attain a degree
of perfection of mind when his body arrived at maturity, it might
be proper, in order to make a man and his wife one, that she should
rely entirely on his understanding; and the graceful ivy, clasping
the oak that supported it, would form a whole in which strength and
beauty would be equally conspicuous. But, alas ! husbands, as well
as their helpmates, are often only overgrown children,--nay, thanks
to early debauchery, scarcely men in their outward form,--and if
the blind lead the blind, one need not come from heaven to tell us
the consequence.
Many are the causes that, in the present corrupt state of society,
contribute to enslave women by cramping their under- standings and
sharpening their senses. One, perhaps, that silently does more
mischief than all the rest, is their disregard of order.
To do everything in an orderly manner is a most important precept,
which women, who, generally speaking, receive only a disorderly
kind of education, seldom attend to with that degree of exactness
that men, who from their infancy are broken into method, observe.
This negligent kind of guesswork--for what other epithet can be
used to point out the random exertions of a sort of instinctive
common sense never brought to the test of reason?--prevents their
generalising matters of fact; so they do to-day what they did
yesterday, merely because they did it yesterday.
This contempt of the understanding in early life has more baneful
consequences than is commonly supposed; for the little knowledge
which women of strong minds attain is, from various circumstances,
of a more desultory kind than the knowledge of men, and it is
acquired more by sheer observations on real life than from
comparing what has been individually observed with the results of
experience generalised by speculation. Led by their dependent
situation and domestic employments more into society, what they
learn is rather by snatches; and as learning is with them in
general only a secondary thing, they do not pursue any one branch
with that persevering ardour necessary to give vigour to the
faculties and clearness to the judgment. In the present state of
society a little learning is required to support the character of
a gentleman, and boys are obliged to submit to a few years of
discipline. But in the education of women, the cultivation of the
understanding is always subordinate to the acquirement of some
corporeal accomplishment. Even when enervated by confinement and
false notions of modesty, the body is prevented from attaining that
grace and beauty which relaxed half-formed limbs never exhibit.
Besides, in youth their faculties are not brought forward by
emulation; and having no serious scientific study, if they have
natural sagacity, it is turned too soon on life and manners. They
dwell on effects and modifications, without tracing them back to
causes; and complicated rules to adjust behaviour are a weak
substitute for simple principles.
As a proof that education gives this appearance of weakness to
females, we may instance the example of military men, who are, like
them, sent into the world before their minds have been stored with
knowledge, or fortified by principles. The consequences are
similar; soldiers acquire a little superficial knowledge, snatched
from the muddy current of conversation, and from continually mixing
with society, they gain what is termed a knowledge of the world;
and this acquaintance with manners and customs has frequently been
confounded with a knowledge of the human heart. But can the crude
fruit of casual observation, never brought to the test of judgment,
formed by comparing speculation and experience, deserve such a
distinction ? Soldiers, as well as women, practise the minor
virtues with punctilious politeness. Where is then the sexual
difference, when the education has been the same? All the
difference that I can discern arises from the superior advantage of
liberty which enables the former to see more of life.
It is wandering from my present subject, perhaps, to make a
political remark; but as it was produced naturally by the train of
my reflections, I shall not pass it silently over.
Standing armies can never consist of resolute robust men; they may
be well-disciplined machines, but they will seldom contain men
under the influence of strong passions, or with very vigorous
faculties; and as for any depth of understanding, I will venture to
affirm that it is as rarely to be found in the army as amongst
women. And the cause, I maintain, is the same. It may be further
observed that officers are also particularly attentive to their
persons, fond of dancing, crowded rooms, adventures, and
ridicule.[1] Like the fair sex, the business of their lives is
gallantry; they were taught to please, and they only live to
please. Yet they do not lose their rank in the distinction of
sexes, for they are still reckoned superior to women, though in
what their superiority consists, beyond what I have just mentioned,
it is difficult to discover.
The great misfortune is this, that they both acquire manners before
morals, and a knowledge of life before they have from reflection
any acquaintance with the grand ideal outline of human nature. The
consequence is natural. Satisfied with common nature, they become
a prey to prejudices, and taking all their opinions on credit, they
blindly submit to authority. So that if they have any sense, it is
a kind of instinctive glance that catches proportions, and decides
with respect to manners, but fails when arguments are to be pursued
below the surface, or opinions analysed.
May not the same remark be applied to women? Nay, the argument may
be carried still further, for they are both thrown out of a useful
station by the unnatural distinctions established in civilised
life. Riches and hereditary honours have made cyphers of women to
give consequence to the numerical figure; and idleness has produced
a mixture of gallantry and despotism into society, which leads the
very men who are the slaves of their mistresses to tyrannise over
their sisters, wives, and daughters. This is only keeping them in
rank and file, it is true. Strengthen the female mind by enlarging
it, and there will be an end to blind obedience; but as blind
obedience is ever sought for by power, tyrants and sensualists are
in the right endeavour to keep woman in the dark, because only
want slaves, and the latter a plaything. The sensualist, indeed,
has been the most dangerous of tyrants, and women have been duped
by their lovers, as princes by their ministers, whilst dreaming
that they reigned over them.
I now principally allude to Rousseau, for his character of Sophia
is undoubtedly a captivating one, though it appears to me grossly
unnatural. However, it is not the superstructure, but the
foundation of her character, the principles on which her education
was built, that I mean to attack; nay, warmly as I admire the
genius of that able writer, whose opinions I shall often have
occasion to cite, indignation always takes place of admiration, and
the rigid frown of insulted virtue effaces the smile of complacency
which his eloquent periods are wont to raise when I read his
voluptuous reveries. Is this the man who, in his ardour for virtue,
would banish all the soft arts of peace, and almost carry us back
to Spartan discipline? Is this the man who delights to paint the
useful struggles of passion, the triumphs of good dispositions, and
the heroic flights which carry the glowing soul out of itself? How
are these mighty sentiments lowered when he describes the pretty
foot and enticing airs of his little favourite ! But for the
present I waive the subject, and instead of severely reprehending
the transient effusions of overweening sensibility, I shall only
observe that whoever has cast a benevolent eye on society must
often have been gratified by the sight of humble mutual love not
dignified by sentiment, or strengthened by a union in intellectual
pursuits. The domestic trifles of the day have afforded matters for
cheerful converse, and innocent caresses have softened toils which
did not require great exercise of mind or stretch of thought; yet
has not the sight of this moderate felicity excited more tenderness
than respect ?--an emotion similar to what we feel when children
are playing or animals sporting;[2] whilst the contemplation of the
noble struggles of suffering merit has raised admiration, and
carried our thoughts to that world where sensation will give place
to reason.
Women are therefore to be considered either as moral beings, or so
weak that they must be entirely subjected to the superior faculties
of men.
Let us examine this question. Rousseau declares that a woman should
never for a moment feel herself independent, that she should be
governed by fear to exercise her natural cunning, and made a
coquettish slave in order to render her a more alluring object of
desire, a sweeter companion to man, whenever he chooses to relax
himself. He carries the arguments, which he pretends to draw from
the indications of nature, still further, and insinuates that truth
and fortitude, the corner-stones of all human virtue, should be
cultivated with certain restrictions, because, with respect to the
female character, obedience is the grand lesson which ought to be
impressed with unrelenting rigour.
What nonsense ! When will a great man arise with sufficient
strength of mind to puff away the fumes which pride and sensuality
have thus spread over the subject? If women are by nature inferior
to men, their virtues must be the same in quality, if not in
degree, or virtue is a relative idea; consequently their conduct
should be founded on the same principles, and have the same aim.
Connected with man as daughters, wives, and mothers, their moral
character may be estimated by their manner of fulfilling those
simple duties; but the end, the grand end, of their exertions
should be to unfold their own faculties, and acquire the dignity of
conscious virtue. They may try to render their road pleasant; but
ought never to forget, in common with man, that life yields not the
felicity which can satisfy an immortal soul. I do not mean to
insinuate that either sex should be so lost in abstract reflections
or distant views as to forget the affections and duties that lie
before them, and are, in truth, the means appointed to produce the
fruit of life; on the contrary, I would warmly recommend them, even
while I assert, that they afford most satisfaction when they are
considered in their true sober light.
Probably the prevailing opinion that woman was created for man, may
have taken its rise from Moses' poetical story; yet as very few, it
is presumed, who have bestowed any serious thought on the subject
ever supposed that Eve was, literally speaking, one of Adam's ribs,
the deduction must be allowed to fall to the ground, or only be so
far admitted as it proves that man, from the remotest antiquity,
found it convenient to exert his strength to subjugate his
companion, and his invention to show that she ought to have her
neck bent under the yoke, because the whole creation was only
created for his convenience or pleasure.
Let it not be concluded that I wish to invert the order of things.
I have already granted that, from the constitution of their bodies,
men seemed to be designed by Providence to attain a greater degree
of virtue. I speak collectively of the whole sex; but I see not the
shadow of a reason to conclude that their virtues should differ in
respect to their nature. In fact, how can they, if virtue has only
one eternal standard? I must therefore, if I reason
consequentially, as strenuously maintain that they have the same
simple direction as that there is a God.
It follows then that cunning should not be opposed to wisdom,
little cares to great exertions, or insipid softness, varnished
over with the name of gentleness, to that fortitude which grand
views alone can inspire.
I shall be told that woman would then lose many of her peculiar
graces, and the opinion of a well-known poet might be quoted to
refute my unqualified assertion. For Pope has said in the name of
the whole male sex:
Yet ne'er so sure our passion to create,
As when she touch'd the brink of all we hate.
In what light this sally places men and women I shall leave to the
judicious to determine. Meanwhile, I shall content myself with
observing, that I cannot discover why, unless they are mortal,
females should always be degraded by being made subservient to love
or lust.
To speak disrespectfully of love is, I know, high treason against
sentiment and fine feelings; but I wish to speak the simple
language of truth, and rather to address the head than the heart.
To endeavour to reason love out of the world would be to
out-Quixote Cervantes, and equally offend against common sense; but
an endeavour to restrain this tumultuous passion, and to prove that
it should not be allowed to dethrone superior powers, or to usurp
the sceptre which the understanding should very coolly wield,
appears less wild.
Youth is the season for love in both sexes; but in those days of
thoughtless enjoyment provision should be made for the more
important years of life, when reflection takes place of sensation.
But Rousseau, and most of the male writers who have followed his
steps, have warmly inculcated that the whole tendency of female
education ought to be directed to one point--to render them
pleasing.
Let me reason with the supporters of this opinion who have any
knowledge of human nature. Do they imagine that marriage can
eradicate the habitude of life? The woman who has only been taught
to please will soon find that her charms are oblique sunbeams, and
that they cannot have much effect on her husband's heart when they
are seen every day, when the summer is passed and gone. Will she
then have sufficient native energy to look into herself for
comfort, and cultivate her dormant faculties? or is it not more
rational to expect that she will try to please other men, and, in
the emotions raised by the expectation of new conquests, endeavour
to forget the mortification her love or pride has received? When
the husband ceases to be a lover, and the time will inevitably
come, her desire of pleasing will then grow languid, or become a
spring of bitterness; and love, perhaps, the most evanescent of all
passions, gives place to jealousy or vanity.
I now speak of women who are restrained by principle or prejudice.
Such women, though they would shrink from an intrigue with real
abhorrence, yet, nevertheless, wish to be convinced by the homage
of gallantry that they are cruelly neglected by their husbands; or,
days and weeks are spent in dreaming of the happiness enjoyed by
congenial souls, till their health is undermined and their spirits
broken by discontent. How then can the great art of pleasing be
such a necessary study? it is only useful to a mistress. The chaste
wife and serious mother should only consider her power to please as
the polish of her virtues, and the affection of her husband as one
of the comforts that render her task less difficult, and her life
happier. But, whether she be loved or neglected, her first wish
should be to make herself respectable, and not to rely for all her
happiness on a being subject to like infirmities with herself.
The worthy Dr. Gregory fell into a similar error. I respect his
heart, but entirely disapprove of his celebrated Legacy to his
Daughters.
He advises them to cultivate a fondness for dress, because a
fondness for dress, he asserts, is natural to them. I am unable to
comprehend what either he or Rousseau mean when they frequently use
this indefinite term. If they told us that in a pre-existent state
the soul was fond of dress, and brought this inclination with it
into a new body, I should listen to them with a half-smile, as I
often do when I hear a rant about innate elegance. But if he only
meant to say that the exercise of the faculties will produce this
fondness, I deny it. It is not natural; but arises, like false
ambition in men, from a love of power.
Dr. Gregory goes much further; he actually recommends
dissimulation, and advises an innocent girl to give the lie to her
feelings, and not dance with spirit, when gaiety of heart would
make her feet eloquent without making her gestures immodest. In the
name of truth and common sense, why should not one woman
acknowledge that she can take more exercise than another? or, in
other words, that she has a sound constitution; and why, to damp
innocent vivacity, is she darkly to be told that men will draw
conclusions which she little thinks of? Let the libertine draw what
inference he pleases; but, I hope, that no sensible mother will
restrain the natural frankness of youth by instilling such indecent
cautions. out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; and
a wiser than Solomon hath said that the heart should be made clean,
and not trivial ceremonies observed, which it is not very difficult
to fulfil with scrupulous exactness when vice reigns in the heart.
Women ought to endeavour to purify their heart; but can they do so
when their uncultivated understandings make them entirely dependent
on their senses for employment and amusement, when no noble
pursuits set them above the little vanities of the day, or enables
them to curb the wild emotions that agitate a reed, over which
every passing breeze has power? To gain the affections of a
virtuous man, is affectation necessary? Nature has given woman a
weaker frame than man; but, to ensure her husband's affections,
must a wife, who, by the exercise of her mind and body whilst she
was discharging the duties of a daughter, wife, and mother, has
allowed her constitution to retain its natural strength, and her
nerves a healthy tone,--is she, I say, to condescend to use art,
and feign a sickly delicacy, in order to secure her husband's
affection? Weakness may excite tenderness, and gratify the arrogant
pride of man; but the lordly caresses of a protector will not
gratify a noble mind that pants for and deserves to be respected.
Fondness is a poor substitute for friendship!
In a seraglio, I grant, that all these arts are necessary; the
epicure must have his palate tickled, or he will sink into apathy;
but have women so little ambition as to be satisfied with such a
condition? Can they supinely dream life away in the lap of
pleasure, or the languor of weariness, rather than assert their
claim to pursue reasonable pleasures, and render themselves
conspicuous by practising the virtues which dignify mankind? Surely
she- has not an immortal soul who can loiter life away merely
employed to adorn her person, that she may amuse the languid hours,
and soften the cares of a fellow-creature who is willing to be
enlivened by her smiles and tricks, when the serious business of
life is over.
Besides, the woman who strengthens her body and exercises her mind
will, by managing her family and practising various virtues, become
the friend, and not the humble dependent of her husband; and if
she, by possessing such substantial qualities, merit his regard,
she will not find it necessary to conceal her affection, nor to
pretend to an unnatural coldness of constitution to excite her
husband's passions. In fact, if we revert to history, we shall find
that the women who have distinguished themselves have neither been
the most beautiful nor the most gentle of their sex.
Nature, or, to speak with strict propriety, God, has made all
things right; but man has sought him out many inventions to mar the
work. I now allude to that part of Dr. Gregory's treatise, where he
advises a wife never to let her husband know the extent of her
sensibility or affection. Voluptuous precaution, and as ineffectual
as absurd. Love, from its very nature, must be transitory. To seek
for a secret that would render it constant, would be as wild a
search as for the philosopher's stone, or the grand panacea; and
the discovery would be equally useless, or rather pernicious, to
mankind. The most holy band of society is friendship. It has been
well said, by a shrewd satirist, "that rare as true love is true
friendship is still rarer."
This is an obvious truth, and, the cause not lying deep, will not
elude a slight glance of inquiry.
Love, the common passion, in which chance and sensation take place
of choice and reason, is, in some degree, felt by the mass of
mankind; for it is not necessary to speak, at present, of the
emotions that rise above or sink below love. This passion,
naturally increased by suspense and difficulties, draws the mind
out of its accustomed state, and exalts the affections; but the
security of marriage, allowing the fever of love to subside, a
healthy temperature is thought insipid only by those who have not
sufficient intellect to substitute the calm tenderness of
friendship, the confidence of respect, instead of blind admiration,
and the sensual emotions of fondness.
This is, must be, the course of nature. Friendship or indifference
inevitably succeeds love. And this constitution seems perfectly to
harmonise with the system of government which prevails in the moral
world. Passions are spurs to action, and open the mind; but they
sink into mere appetites, become a personal and momentary
gratification when the object is gained, and the satisfied mind
rests in enjoyment. The man who had some virtue whilst he was
struggling for a crown, often becomes a voluptuous tyrant when it
graces his brow; and, when the lover is not lost in the husband,
the dotard, a prey to childish caprices and fond jealousies,
neglects the serious duties of life, and the caresses which should
excite confidence in his children are lavished on the overgrown
child, his wife.
In order to fulfil the duties of life, and to be able to pursue
with vigour the various employments which form the moral character,
a master and mistress of a family ought not to continue to love
each other with passion. I mean to say that they ought not to
indulge those emotions which disturb the order of society, and
engross the thoughts that should be otherwise employed. The mind
that has never been engrossed by one object wants vigour,--if it
can long be so, it is weak.
A mistaken education, a narrow uncultivated mind, and many sexual
prejudices, tend to make women more constant than men; but, for the
present, I shall not .ouch on this branch of the subject. I will go
still further, and advance, without dreaming of a paradox, that an
unhappy marriage is often very advantageous to a family, and that
the neglected wife is, in general, the best mother. And this would
almost always be the consequence if the female mind were more
enlarged; for, it seems to be the common dispensation of
Providence, that what we gain in present enjoyment should be
deducted from the treasure of life, experience; and that when we
are gathering the flowers of the day, and revelling in pleasure,
the solid fruit of toil and wisdom should not be caught at the same
time. The way lies before us, we must turn to the right or left;
and he who will pass life away in bounding from one pleasure to
another, must not complain if he acquire neither wisdom nor
respectability of character.
Supposing, for a moment, that the soul is not immortal, and that
man was only created for the present scene,--I think we should have
reason to complain that love, infantine fondness, ever grew insipid
and palled upon the sense. Let us eat, drink, and love, for
to-morrow we die, would be, in fact, the language of reason, the
morality of life; and who but a fool would part with a reality for
a fleeting shadow ? But, if awed by observing the improbable powers
of the mind, we disdain to confine our wishes or thoughts to such
a comparatively mean field of action, that only appears grand and
important, as it is connected with a boundless prospect and sublime
hopes, what necessity is there for falsehood in conduct, and why
must the sacred majesty of truth be violated to detain a deceitful
good that saps the very foundation of virtue? Why must the female
mind be tainted by coquettish arts to gratify the sensualist, and
prevent love from subsiding into friendship, or compassionate
tenderness, when there are not qualities on which friendship can be
built? Let the honest heart show itself, and reason teach passion
to submit to necessity; or, let the dignified pursuit of virtue and
knowledge raise the mind above those emotions which rather embitter
than sweeten the cup of life, when they are not restrained within
due bounds.
I do not mean to allude to the romantic passion, which is the
concomitant of genius. Who can clip its wing? But that grand
passion not proportioned to the puny enjoyments of life, is only
true to the sentiment, and feeds on itself. The passions which have
been celebrated for their durability have always been unfortunate.
They have acquired strength by absence and constitutional
melancholy. The fancy has hovered round a form of beauty dimly
seen; but familiarity might have turned admiration into disgust,
or, at least, into indifference, and allowed the imagination
leisure to start fresh game. With perfect propriety, according to
this view of things, does Rousseau make the mistress of his soul,
Eloisa, love St. Preux, when life was fading before her; but this
is no proof of the immortality of the passion.
Of the same complexion is Dr. Gregory's advice respecting delicacy
of sentiment, which he advises a woman not to acquire, if she have
determined to marry. This determination, however, perfectly
consistent with his former advice, he calls indelicate, and
earnestly persuades his daughters to conceal it, though it may
govern their conduct, as if it were indelicate to have the common
appetites of human nature.
Noble morality! and consistent with the cautious prudence of a
little soul that cannot extend its views beyond the present minute
division of existence. If all the faculties of woman's mind are
only to be cultivated as they respect her dependence on man; if,
when a husband be obtained, she have arrived at her goal, and
meanly proud, rests satisfied with such a paltry crown, let her
grovel contentedly, scarcely raised by her employments above the
animal kingdom; but, if struggling for the prize of her high
calling, she look beyond the present scene, let her cultivate her
understanding without stopping to consider what character the
husband may have whom she is destined to marry. Let her only
determine, without being too anxious about present happiness, to
acquire the qualities that ennoble a rational being, and a rough
inelegant husband may shock her taste without destroying her peace
of mind. She will not model her soul to suit the frailties of her
companion, but to bear with them; his character may be a trial, but
not an impediment to virtue.
If Dr. Gregory confined his remark to romantic.expectations of
constant love and congenial feelings, he should have recollected
that experience will banish what advice can never make us cease to
wish for, when the imagination is kept alive at the expense of
reason.
I own it frequently happens, that women who have fostered a
romantic unnatural delicacy of feeling, waste their [3] lives in
imagining how happy they should have been with a husband who could
love them with a fervid increasing affection every day, and all
day. But they might as well pine married as single, and would not
be a jot more unhappy with a bad husband than longing for a good
one. That a proper education, or, to speak with more precision, a
well-stored mind, would enable a woman to support a single life
with dignity, I grant; but that she should avoid cultivating her
taste, lest her husband should occasionally shock it, is quitting
a substance for a shadow. To say the truth, I do not know of what
use is an improved taste, if the individual be not rendered more
independent of the casualties of life; if new sources of enjoyment,
only dependent on the solitary operations of the mind, are not
opened. People of taste, married or single, without distinction,
will ever be disgusted by various things that touch not less
observing minds. On this conclusion the argument must not be
allowed to hinge; but in the whole sum of enjoyment is taste to be
denominated a blessing?
The question is, whether it procures most pain or pleasure? The
answer will decide the propriety of Dr. Gregory's advice, and show
how absurd and tyrannic it is thus to lay down a system of slavery,
or to attempt to educate moral beings by any other rules than those
deduced from pure reason, which apply to the whole species.
Gentleness of manners, forbearance and long-suffering, are such
amiable Godlike qualities, that in sublime poetic strains the
Deity has been invested with them; and, perhaps, no representation
of His goodness so strongly fastens on the human affections as
those that represent Him abundant in mercy and willing to pardon.
Gentleness, considered in this point of view, bears on its front
all the characteristics of grandeur, combined with the winning
graces of condescension; but what a different aspect it assumes
when it is the submissive demeanour of dependence, the support of
weakness that loves, because it wants protection; and is
forbearing, because it must silently endure injuries; smiling under
the lash at which it dare not snarl. Abject as this picture
appears, it is the portrait of an accomplished woman, according to
the received opinion of female excellence, separated by specious
reasoners from human excellence. Or, they [4] kindly restore the
rib, and make one moral being of a man and woman; not forgetting to
give her all the "submissive charms."
How women are to exist in that state where there is neither to be
marrying nor giving in marriage, we are not told. For though
moralists have agreed that the tenor of life seems to prove that
man is prepared by various circumstances for a future state, they
constantly concur in advising woman only to provide for the
present. Gentleness, docility, and a spaniel like affection are, on
this ground, consistently recommended as the cardinal virtues of
the sex; and, disregarding the arbitrary economy of nature, one
writer has declared that it is masculine for a woman to be
melancholy. She was created to be the toy of man, his rattle, and
it must jingle in his ears whenever, dismissing reason, he chooses
to be amused.
To recommend gentleness, indeed, on a broad basis is strictly
philosophical. A frail being should labour to be gentle. But when
forbearance confounds right and wrong, it ceases to be a virtue;
and, however convenient it may be found in a companion--that
companion will ever be considered as an inferior, and only inspire
a vapid tenderness, which easily degenerates into contempt. Still,
if advice could really make a being gentle, whose natural
disposition admitted not of such a fine polish, something towards
the advancement of order would be attained; but if, as might
quickly be demonstrated, only affectation be produced by this
indiscriminate counsel, which throws a stumbling-block in the way
of gradual improvement, and true melioration of temper, the sex is
not much benefited by sacrificing solid virtues to the attainment
of superficial graces, though for a few years they may procure the
individuals regal sway.
As a philosopher, I read with indignation the plausible epithets
which men use to soften their insults; and, as a moralist, I ask
what is meant by such heterogeneous associations, as fair defects,
amiable weaknesses, etc. ? If there be but one criterion of morals,
but one architype for man, women appear to be suspended by destiny,
according to the vulgar tale of Mahomet's coffin; they have neither
the unerring instinct of brutes, nor are allowed to fix the eye of
reason on a perfect model. They were made to be loved, and must not
aim at respect, lest they should be hunted out of society as
masculine.
But to view the subject in another point of view. Do passive
indolent women make the best wives? Confining our discussion to the
present moment of existence, let us see how such weak creatures
perform their part ? Do the women who, by the attainment of a few
superficial accomplishments, have strengthened the prevailing
prejudice, merely contribute to the happiness of their husbands? Do
they display their charms merely to amuse them ? And have women who
have early imbibed notions of passive obedience, sufficient
character to manage a family or educate children? So far from it,
that, after surveying the history of woman, I cannot help agreeing
with the severest satirist, considering the sex as the weakest as
well as the most oppressed half of the species. What does history
disclose but marks of inferiority, and how few women have
emancipated themselves from the galling yoke of sovereign man? So
few that the exceptions remind me of an ingenious conjecture
respecting Newton-- that he was probably a being of superior order
accidentally caged in a human body. Following the same train of
thinking, I have been led to imagine that the few extraordinary
women who have rushed in eccentrical directions out of the orbit
prescribed to their sex, were male spirits, confined by mistake in
female frames. But if it be not philosophical to think of sex when
the soul is mentioned, the inferiority must depend on the organs;
or the heavenly fire, which is to ferment the clay, is not given in
equal portions.
But avoiding, as I have hitherto done, any direct comparison of the
two sexes collectively, or frankly acknowledging the inferiority of
woman, according to the present appearance of things, I shall only
insist that men have increased that inferiority till women are
almost sunk below the standard of rational creatures. Let their
faculties have room to unfold, and their virtues to gain strength,
and then determine where the whole sex must stand in the
intellectual scale. Yet let it be remembered, that for a small
number of distinguished women I do not ask a place.
It is difficult for us purblind mortals to say to what height human
discoveries and improvements may arrive when the gloom of despotism
subsides, which makes us stumble at every step; but, when morality
shall be settled on a more solid basis, then, without being gifted
with a prophetic spirit, I will venture to predict that woman will
be either the friend or slave of man. We shall not, as at present,
doubt whether she is a moral agent, or the link which unites man
with brutes. But should it then appear that like the brutes they
were principally created for the use of man, he will let them
patiently bite the bridle, and not mock them with empty praise; or,
should their rationality be proved, he will not impede their
improvement merely to gratify his sensual appetites. He will not,
with all the graces of rhetoric, advise them to submit implicitly
their understanding to the guidance of man. He will not, when he
treats of the education of women, assert that they ought never to
have the free use of reason, nor would he recommend cunning and
dissimulation to beings who are acquiring, in like manner as
himself, the virtues of humanity.
Surely there can be but one rule of right, if morality has an
eternal foundation, and whoever sacrifices virtue, strictly so
called, to present convenience, or whose duty it is to act in such
a manner, lives only for the passing day, and cannot be an
accountable creature.
The poet then should have dropped his sneer when he says:
If weak women go astray,
The stars are more ill fault than they
For that they are bound by the adamantine chain of destiny is most
certain, if it be proved that they are never to exercise their own
reason, never to be independent, never to rise above opinion, or to
feel the dignity of a rational will that only bows to God, and
often forgets that the universe contains any being but itself and
the model of perfection to which its ardent gaze is turned, to
adore attributes that, softened into virtues, may be imitated in
kind, though the degree overwhelms the enraptured mind.
If, I say, for I would not impress by declamation when Reason
offers her sober light, if they be really capable of acting like
rational creatures, let them not be treated like slaves; or, like
the brutes who are dependent on the reason of man, when they
associate with him; but cultivate their minds, give them the
salutary sublime curb of principle, and let them attain conscious
dignity by feeling themselves only dependent on God. Teach them, in
common with man, to submit to necessity, instead of giving, to
render them more pleasing, a sex to morals.
Further, should experience prove that they cannot attain the same
degree of strength of mind, perseverance, and fortitude, let their
virtues be the same in kind, though they may vainly struggle for
the same degree; and the superiority of man will be equally clear,
if not clearer; and truth, as it is a simple principle, which
admits of no modification, would be common to both. Nay the order
of society, as it is at present regulated, would not be inverted,
for woman would then only have the rank that reason assigned her,
and arts could not be practised to bring the balance even, much
less to turn it.
These may be termed Utopian dreams. Thanks to that Being who
impressed them on my soul, and gave me sufficient strength of mind
to dare to exert my own reason, till, becoming dependent only on
Him for the support of my virtue, I view, with indignation, the
mistaken notions that enslave my sex.
I love man as my fellow; but his sceptre, real or usurped, extends
not to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my homage;
and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man. In fact,
the conduct of an accountable being must be regulated by the
operations of its own reason; or on what foundation rests the
throne of God?
It appears to me necessary to dwell on these obvious truths,
because females have been insulated, as it were; and while they
have been stripped of the virtues that should clothe humanity, they
have been decked with artificial graces that enable them to
exercise a short-lived tyranny. Love, in their bosoms, taking place
of every nobler passion, their sole ambition is to be fair, to
raise emotion instead of inspiring respect; and this ignoble
desire, like the servility in absolute monarchies, destroys all
strength of character. Liberty is the mother of virtue, and if
women be, by their very constitution, slaves, and not allowed to
breathe the sharp invigorating air of freedom, they must ever
languish like exotics, and be reckoned beautiful flaws in nature.
As to the argument respecting the subjection in which the sex has
ever been held, it retorts on man. The many have always been
enthralled by the few; and monsters, who scarcely have shown any
discernment of human excellence, have tyrannised over thousands of
their fellow-creatures. Why have men of superior endowments
submitted to such degradation? For, is it not universally
acknowledged that kings, viewed collectively, have ever been
inferior, in abilities and virtue, to the same number of men taken
from the common mass of mankind-- yet have they not, and are they
not still treated with a degree of reverence that is an insult to
reason? China is not the only country where a living man has been
made a God. Men have submitted to superior strength to enjoy with
impunity the pleasure of the moment; women have only done the same,
and therefore till it is proved that the courtier, who servilely
resigns the birthright of a man, is not a moral agent, it cannot be
demonstrated that woman is essentially inferior to man because she
has always been subjugated.
Brutal force has hitherto governed the world, and that the science
of politics is in its infancy, is evident from philosophers
scrupling to give the knowledge most useful to man that determinate
distinction.
I shall not pursue this argument any further than to establish an
obvious inference, that as sound politics diffuse liberty, mankind,
including woman, will become more wise and virtuous.
NOTES
[1] Why should women be censured with petulant acrimony because
they seem to have a passion for a scarlet coat? Has not an
education placed them more on a level with soldiers than any other
class of men?
[2] Similar feelings has Milton's pleasing picture of paradisiacal
happiness ever raised in my; yet, instead of envying the lovely
pair, I have with concious dignity or satanic pride turned to hell
for sublimer objects. In the same style, when viewing some noble
monument of human art, I have traced the emanation of the Deity in
the order I admired, till, descending from that giddy height, I
have caught myself contemplating the grandest of all human sights;
for fancy quickly placed in some solitary recess an outcast of
fortune, rising superior to passion and discontent.
[3] For example, the herd of Novelists.
[4] Vide Rousseau and Swedenborg.
CHAPTER III
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
Bodily strength from being the distinction of heroes is now sunk
into such unmerited contempt that men, as well as women, seem to
think it unnecessary; the latter, as it takes from their feminine
graces, and from that lovely weakness, the source of their undue
power; and the former, because it appears inimical to the character
of a gentleman.
That they have both, by departing from one extreme run into
another, may easily be proved; but first it may be proper to
observe that a vulgar error has obtained a degree of credit, which
has given force to a false conclusion, in which an effect has been
mistaken for a cause.
People of genius have very frequently impaired their constitutions
by study or careless inattention to their health, and the violence
of their passions bearing a proportion to the vigour of their
intellects, the sword's destroying the scabbard has become almost
proverbial, and superficial observers have inferred from thence
that men of genius have commonly weak, or, to use a more
fashionable phrase, delicate constitutions. Yet the contrary, I
believe, will appear to be the fact; for, on diligent inquiry, I
find that strength of mind has in most cases been accompanied by
superior strength of body,--natural soundness of constitution,--not
that robust tone of nerves and vigour of muscles, which arise from
bodily labour, when the mind is quiescent, or only directs the
hands.
Dr. Priestley has remarked, in the preface to his biographical
chart, that the majority of great men have lived beyond fortyfive.
And considering the thoughtless manner in which they have lavished
their strength when investigating a favourite science, they have
wasted the lamp of life, forgetful of the midnight hour; or, when
lost in poetic dreams, fancy has peopled the scene, and the soul
has been disturbed, till it shook the constitution by the passions
that meditation had raised,--whose objects, the baseless fabric of
a vision, faded before the exhausted eye,--they must have had iron
frames. Shakespeare never grasped the airy danger with a nerveless
hand, nor did Milton tremble when he led Satan far from the
confines of his dreary prison. These were not the ravings of
imbecility, the sickly effusions of distempered brains, but the
exuberance of fancy, that " in a fine frenzy " wandering, was not
continually reminded of its material shackles.
I am aware that this argument would carry me further than it may be
supposed I wish to go; but I follow truth, and still adhering to my
first position, I will allow that bodily strength seems to give man
a natural superiority over woman; and this is the only solid basis
on which the superiority of the sex can be built. But I still
insist that not only the virtue but the knowledge of the two sexes
should be the same in nature, if not in degree, and that women,
considered not only as moral but rational creatures, ought to
endeavour to acquire human virtues (or perfections) by the same
means as men, instead of being educated like a fanciful kind of
half being--one of Rousseau's wild chimeras.[1]
But if strength of body be with some show of reason the boast of
men, why are women so infatuated as to be proud of a defect ?
Rousseau has furnished them with a plausible excuse, which could
only have occurred to a man whose imagination had been allowed to
run wild, and refine on the impressions made by exquisite senses;
that they might forsooth have a pretext for yielding to a natural
appetite without violating a romantic species of modesty, which
gratifies the pride and libertinism of man.
Women, deluded by these sentiments, sometimes boast of their
weakness, cunningly obtaining power by playing on the weakness of
men; and they may well glory in their illicit sway, for, like
Turkish bashaws, they have more real power than their masters; but
virtue is sacrificed to temporary gratifications, and the
respectability of life to the triumph of an hour.
Women, as well as despots, have now perhaps more power than they
would have if the world, divided and subdivided into kingdoms and
families, were governed by laws deduced from the exercise of
reason; but in obtaining it, to carry on the comparison, their
character is degraded, and licentiousness spread through the whole
aggregate of society. The many become pedestal to the few. I,
therefore, will venture to assert that till women are more
rationally educated, the progress of human virtue and improvement
in knowledge must receive continual checks. And if it be granted
that woman was not created merely to gratify the appetite of man,
or to be the upper servant who provides his meals and takes care of
his linen, it must follow that the first care of those mothers or
fathers who really attend to the education of females should be, if
not to strengthen the body, at least not to destroy the
constitution by mistaken notions of beauty and female excellence;
nor should girls ever be allowed to imbibe the pernicious notion
that a defect can, by any chemical process of reasoning, become an
excellence. In this respect I am happy to find that the author of
one of the most instructive books that our country has produced for
children, coincides with me in opinion. I shall quote his pertinent
remarks to give the force of his respectable authority to
reason.[2]
But should it be proved that woman is naturally weaker than man,
whence does it follow that it is natural for her to labour to
become still weaker than nature intended her to be? Arguments of
this cast are an insult to common sense, and savour of passion. The
divine right of husbands, like the divine right of kings, may, it
is to be hoped, in this enlightened age, be contested without
danger; and though conviction may not silence many boisterous
disputants, yet, when any prevailing prejudice is attacked, the
wise will consider, and leave the narrow-minded to rail with
thoughtless vehemence at innovation.
The mother who wishes to give true dignity of character to her
daughter must, regardless of the sneers of ignorance, proceed on a
plan diametrically opposite to that which Rousseau has recommended
with all the deluding charms of eloquence and philosophical
sophistry, for his eloquence renders absurdities plausible, and his
dogmatic conclusions puzzle, without convincing, those who have not
ability to refute them.
Throughout the whole animal kingdom every young creature requires
almost continual exercise, and the infancy of children, conformable
to this intimation, should be passed in harmless gambols that
exercise the feet and hands, without requiring very minute
direction from the head, or the constant attention of a nurse. In
fact, the care necessary for self-preservation is the first natural
exercise of the understanding as little inventions to amuse the
present moment unfold the imagination. But these wise designs of
nature are counteracted by mistaken fondness or blind zeal. The
child is not left a moment to its own direction--particularly a
girl and thus rendered dependent. Dependence is called natural.
To preserve personal beauty--woman's glory--the limbs and faculties
are cramped with worse than Chinese bands, and the sedentary life
which they are condemned to live, whilst boys frolic in the open
air, weakens the muscles and relaxes the nerves. As for Rousseau's
remarks, which have since been echoed by several writers, that they
have naturally, that is, from their birth, independent of
education, a fondness for dolls, dressing, and talking, they are so
puerile as not to merit a serious refutation. That a girl,
condemned to sit for hours together listening to the idle chat of
weak nurses, or to attend at her mother's toilet, will endeavour to
join the conversation, is, indeed, very natural; and that she will
imitate her mother or aunts, and amuse herself by adorning her
lifeless doll, as they do in dressing her, poor innocent babe! is
undoubtedly a most natural consequence. For men of the greatest
abilities have seldom had sufficient strength to rise above the
surrounding atmosphere; and if the pages of genius have always been
blurred by the prejudices of the age, some allowance should be made
for a sex, who, like kings, always see things through a false
medium.
Purposing these reflections, the fondness for dress, conspicuous in
woman, may be easily accounted for, without supposing it the result
of a desire to please the sex on which they are dependent. The
absurdity, in short, of supposing that a girl is naturally a
coquette, and that a desire connected with the impulse of nature to
propagate the species, should appear even before an improper
education has, by heating the imagination, called it forth
prematurely, is so unphilosophical, that such a sagacious observer
as Rousseau would not have adopted it, if he had not been
accustomed to make reason give way to his desire of singularity,
and truth to a favourite paradox. Yet thus to give a sex to mind
was not very consistent with the principles of a man who argued so
warmly, and so well, for the immortality of the soul. But what a
weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an hypothesis !
Rousseau respected --almost adored virtue--and yet he allowed
himself to love with sensual fondness. His imagination constantly
prepared inflammable fuel for his inflammable senses; but, in order
to reconcile his respect for self-denial, fortitude, and those
heroic virtues, which a mind like his could not coolly admire, he
labours to invert the law of nature, and broaches a doctrine
pregnant with mischief, and derogatory to the character of supreme
wisdom.
His ridiculous stories, which tend to prove that girls are
naturally attentive to their persons, without laying any stress on
daily example, are below contempt. And that a little miss should
have such a correct taste as to neglect the pleasing amusement of
making O's, merely because she perceived that it was an ungraceful
attitude, should be selected with the anecdotes of the learned
pig.[3]
I have, probably, had an opportunity of observing more girls in
their infancy than J. J. Rousseau. I can recollect my own feelings,
and I have looked steadily around me; yet, so far from coinciding
with him in opinion respecting the first dawn of the female
character, I will venture to affirm, that a girl, whose spirits
have not been damped by inactivity, or innocence tainted by false
shame, will always be a romp, and the doll will never excite
attention unless confinement allows her no alternative. Girls and
boys, in short, would play, harmlessly together, if the distinction
of sex was not inculcated long before nature makes any difference.
I will go further, and affirm, as an indisputable fact, that most
of the women, in the circle of my observation, who have acted like
rational creatures, or shown any vigour of intellect, have
accidentally been allowed to run wild, as some of the elegant
formers of the fair sex would insinuate.
The baneful consequences which flow from inattention to health
during infancy and youth, extend further than is supposed--
dependence of body naturally produces dependence of mind; and how
can she be a good wife or mother, the greater part of whose time is
employed to guard against or endure sickness? Nor can it be
expected that & woman will resolutely endeavour to strengthen her
constitution and abstain from enervating indulgences, if artificial
notions of beauty, and false descriptions of sensibility, have been
early entangled with her motives of action. Most men are sometimes
obliged to bear with bodily inconveniences, and to endure,
occasionally, the inclemency of the elements; but genteel women
are, literally speaking, slaves to their bodies, and glory in their
subjection.
I once knew a weak woman of fashion, who was more than commonly
proud of her delicacy and sensibility. She thought a distinguishing
taste and puny appetite the height of all human perfection, and
acted accordingly. I have seen this weak sophisticated being
neglect all the duties of life, yet recline with self-complacency
on a sofa, and boast of her want of appetite as a proof of delicacy
that extended to, or, perhaps, arose from, her exquisite
sensibility; for it is difficult to render intelligible such
ridiculous jargon. Yet, at the moment, I have seen her insult a
worthy old gentlewoman, whom unexpected misfortunes had made
dependent on her ostentatious bounty, and who, in better days, had
claims on her gratitude. Is it possible that a human creature could
have become such a weak and depraved being, if, like the Sybarites,
dissolved in luxury, everything like virtue had not been worn
pressed by precept, a poor substitute, it is of mind, though it
serves as a fence against vice?
Such a woman is not a more irrational monster than some of the
Roman emperors, who were depraved by lawless power. Yet, since
kings have been more under the restraint of law, and the curb,
however weak, of honour, the records of history are not filled with
such unnatural instances of folly and cruelty, nor does the
despotism that kills virtue and genius in the bud, hover over
Europe with that destructive blast which desolates Turkey, and
renders the men, as well as the soil, unfruitful.
Women are everywhere in this deplorable state; for, in order to
preserve their innocence, as ignorance is courteously termed, truth
is hidden from them, and they are made to assume an artificial
character before their faculties have acquired any strength. Taught
from their infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes
itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to
adore its prison. Men have various employments and pursuits which
engage their attention, and give a character to the opening mind;
but women, confined to one, and having their thoughts constantly
directed to the most insignificant part of themselves, seldom
extend their views beyond the triumph of the hour. But were their
understanding once emancipated from the slavery to which the pride
and sensuality of man and their short-sighted desire, like that of
dominion in tyrants, of present sway, has subjected them, we should
probably read of their weaknesses with surprise. I must be allowed
to pursue the argument a little further.
Perhaps, if the existence of an evil being were allowed, who, in
the allegorical language of Scripture, went about seeking whom he
should devour, he could not more effectually degrade the human
character, than by giving a man absolute power.
This argument branches into various ramifications. Birth, riches,
and every extrinsic advantage that exalt a man above his fellows,
without any mental exertion, sink him in reality below them. In
proportion to his weakness, he is played upon by designing men,
till the bloated monster has lost all traces of humanity. And that
tribes of-men, like flocks of sheep, should quietly follow such a
leader, is a solecism that only a desire of present enjoyment and
narrowness of understanding can solve. Educated in slavish
dependence, and enervated by luxury and sloth, where shall we find
men who will stand forth to assert the rights of man, or claim the
privilege of moral beings, who should have but one road to
excellence? Slavery to monarchs and ministers, which the world will
be long in freeing itself from, and whose deadly grasp stops the
progress of the human mind, is not yet abolished.
Let not men then in the pride of power, use the same arguments that
tyrannic kings and venal ministers have used, and fallaciously
assert that woman ought to be subjected because she has always
been so. But, when man, governed by reasonable laws, enjoys his
natural freedom, let him despise woman, if she do not share it with
him; and, till that glorious period arrives, in descanting on the
folly of the sex, let him not overlook his own.
Women, it is true, obtaining power by unjust means, by practising
or fostering vice, evidently lose the rank which reason would
assign them, and they become either abject slaves or capricious
tyrants. They lose all simplicity, all dignity of mind, in
acquiring power, and act as men are observed to act when they have
been exalted by the same means.
It is time to effect a revolution in female manners--time to
restore to them their lost dignity--and make them, as a part of the
human species, labour by reforming themselves to reform the world.
It is time to separate unchangeable morals from local manners. If
men be demi-gods, why let us serve them! And if the dignity of the
female soul be as disputable as that of animals--if their reason
does not afford sufficient light to direct their conduct whilst
unerring instinct is denied--they are surely of all creatures the
most miserable ! and, bent beneath the iron hand of destiny, must
submit to be a fair defect in creation. But to justify the ways of
Providence respecting them, by pointing out some irrefragable
reason for thus making such a large portion of mankind accountable
and not accountable, would puzzle the subtilest casuist.
The only solid foundation for morality appears to be the character
of the Supreme Being; the harmony of which arises from a balance of
attributes,--and, to speak with reverence, one attribute seems to
imply the necessity of another. He must be just, because He is
wise; He must be good, because He is omnipotent. For to exalt one
attribute at the expense of another equally noble and necessary,
bears the stamp of the warped reason of man--the homage of passion.
Man, accustomed to bow down to power in his savage state, can
seldom divest himself of this barbarous prejudice, even when
civilisation determines how much superior mental is to bodily
strength; and his reason is clouded by these crude opinions, even
when he thinks of the Deity. His omnipotence is made to swallow up,
or preside over His other attributes, and those morals are supposed
to limit His power irreverently, who think that it must be
regulated by His wisdom.
I disclaim that specious humility which, after investigating
nature, stops at the Author. The High and Lofty one, who inhabiteth
eternity, doubtless possesses many attributes of which we can form
no conception; but Reason tells me that they cannot dash with those
I adore--and I am compelled to listen to her voice.
It seems natural for man to search for excellence, and either to
trace it in the object that he worships, or blindly to invest it
with perfection, as a garment. But what good effect can the latter
mode of worship have on the moral conduct of a rational being? He
bends to power; he adores a dark cloud, which may open a bright
prospect to him, to burst in angry, lawless fury, on his devoted
head--he knows not why. And, supposing that the Deity acts from the
vague impulse of an undirected will, man must also follow his own,
or act according to rules, deduced from principles which he
disclaims as irreverent. Into this dilemma have both enthusiasts
and cooler thinkers fallen, when they laboured to free men from the
wholesome restraints which a just conception of the character of
God imposes.
It is not impious thus to scan the attributes of the Almighty: in
fact, who can avoid it that exercises his faculties? For to love
God as the fountain of wisdom, goodness, and power, appears to be
the only worship useful to a being who wishes to acquire either
virtue or knowledge. A blind unsettled affection may, like human
passions, occupy the mind and warm the heart, whilst, to do
justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, is forgotten. I
shall pursue this subject still further, when I consider religion
in a light opposite to that recommended by Dr. Gregory, who treats
it as a matter of sentiment or taste.
To return from this apparent digression. It were to be wished that
women would cherish an affection for their husbands, founded on the
same principle that devotion ought to rest upon. No other firm base
is there under heaven--for let them beware of the fallacious light
of sentiment; too often used as a softer phrase for sensuality. It
follows then, I think, that from their infancy women should either
be shut up like Eastern princes, or educated in such a manner as to
be able to think and act for themselves.
Why do men halt between two opinions, and expect impossibilities?
Why do they expect virtue from a slave, from a being whom the
constitution of civil society has rendered weak, if not vicious?
Still I know that it will require a considerable length of time to
eradicate the firmly rooted prejudices which sensualists have
planted; it will also require some time to convince women that they
act contrary to their real interest on an enlarged scale, when they
cherish or affect weakness under the name of delicacy, and to
convince the world that the poisoned source of female vices and
follies, if it be necessary, in compliance with custom, to use
synonymous terms in a lax sense, has been the sensual homage paid
to beauty:--to beauty of features; for it has been shrewdly
observed by a German writer, that a pretty woman, as an object of
desire, is generally allowed to be so by men of all descriptions;
whilst a fine woman, who inspires more sublime emotions by
displaying intellectual beauty, may be overlooked or observed with
indifference, by those men who find their happiness in their
gratification of their appetites. I foresee an obvious
retort--whilst man remains such an imperfect being as he appears
hitherto to have been, he will, more or less, be the slave of his
appetites; and those women obtaining most power who gratify a
predominant one, the sex is degraded by a physical, if not by a
moral necessity.
This objection has, I grant, some force; but while such a sublime
precept exists, as, "Be pure as your heavenly Father is pure"; it
would seem that the virtues of man are not limited by the Being who
alone could limit them; and that he may press forward without
considering whether he steps out of his sphere by indulging such a
noble ambition. To the wild billows it has been said, "Thus far
shalt thou go, and no farther; and here shall thy proud waves be
stayed." Vainly then do they beat and foam, restrained by the power
that confines the struggling planets in their orbits, matter yields
to the great governing Spirit. But an immortal soul, not restrained
by mechanical laws and struggling to free itself from the shackles
of matter, contributes to, instead of disturbing, the order of
creation, when, co-operating with the Father of spirits, it tries
to govern itself by the invariable rule that, in a degree, before
which our imagination faints, regulates the universe.
Besides, if women be educated for dependence, that is, to act
according to the will of another fallible being, and submit, right
or wrong, to power, where are we to stop? Are they to be considered
as vicegerents allowed to reign over a small domain, and answerable
for their conduct to a higher tribunal, liable to error? It will
not be difficult to prove that such delegates will act like men
subjected by fear, and make their children and servants endure
their tyrannical oppression. As they submit without reason, they
will, having no fixed rules to square their conduct by, be kind, or
cruel, just as the whim of the moment directs; and we ought not to
wonder if sometimes, galled by their heavy yoke, they take a
malignant pleasure in resting it on weaker shoulders.
But, supposing a woman, trained up to obedience, be married to a
sensible man, who directs her judgment without making her feel the
servility of her subjection, to act with as much propriety by this
reflected light as can be expected when reason is taken at
secondhand, yet she cannot ensure the life of her protector; he may
die and leave her with a large family.
A double duty devolves on her; to educate them in the character of
both father and mother; to form their principles and secure their
property. But, alas! she has never thought, much less acted for
herself. She has only learned to please [4] men, to depend
gracefully on them; yet, encumbered with children, how is she to
obtain another protector--a husband to supply the place of reason?
A rational man, for we are not treading on romantic ground, though
he may think her a pleasing docile creature, will not choose to
marry a family for love, when the world contains many more pretty
creatures. What is then to become of her? She either falls an easy
prey to some mean fortune-hunter, who defrauds her children of
their paternal inheritance, and renders her miserable; or becomes
the victim of discontent and blind indulgence. Unable to educate
her sons, or impress them with respect,--for it is not a play on
words to assert, that people are never respected, though filling an
important station, who are not respectable,--she pines under the
anguish of unavailing impotent regret. The serpent's tooth enters
into her very soul, and the vices of licentious youth bring her
with sorrow, if not with poverty also, to the grave.
This is not an overcharged picture; on the contrary, it is a very
possible case, and something similar must have fallen under every
attentive eye.
I have, however, taken it for granted, that she was well disposed,
though experience shows, that the blind may as easily be led into
a ditch as along the beaten road. But supposing, no very improbable
conjecture, that a being only taught to please must still find her
happiness in pleasing; what an example of folly, not to say vice,
will she be to her innocent daughters! The mother will be lost in
the coquette, and, instead of making friends of her daughters, view
them with eyes askance, for they are rivals--rivals more cruel than
any other, because they invite a comparison, and drive her from the
throne of beauty, who has never thought of a seat on the bench of
reason.
It does not require a lively pencil, or the discriminating outline
of a caricature, to sketch the domestic miseries and petty vices
which such a mistress of a family diffuses. Still she only acts as
a woman ought to act, brought up according to Rousseau's system.
She can never be reproached for being masculine, or turning out of
her sphere; nay, she may observe another of his grand rules, and,
cautiously preserving her reputation free from spot, be reckoned a
good kind of woman. Yet in what respect can she be termed good? She
abstains, it is true, without any great struggle, from committing
gross crimes; but how does she fulfil her duties? Duties! in truth
she has enough to think of to adorn her body and nurse a weak
constitution.
With respect to religion, she never presumed to judge for herself;
but conformed, as a dependent creature should, to the effects of a
good education ! These the virtues of man's helpmate ![5]
I must relieve myself by drawing a different picture.
Let fancy now present a woman with a tolerable understanding, for
I do not wish to leave the line of mediocrity, whose constitution,
strengthened by exercise, has allowed her body to acquire its full
vigour; her mind, at the same time, gradually expanding itself to
comprehend the moral duties of life, and in what human virtue and
dignity consist.
Formed thus by the discharge of the relative duties of her station,
she marries from affection, without losing sight of prudence, and
looking beyond matrimonial felicity, she secures her husband's
respect before it is necessary to exert mean arts to please him and
feed a dying flame, which nature doomed to expire when the object
became familiar, when friendship and forbearance take place of a
more ardent affection. This is the natural death of love, and
domestic peace is not destroyed by struggles to prevent its
extinction. I also suppose the husband to be virtuous; or she is
still more in want of independent principles.
Fate, however, breaks this tie. She is left a widow, perhaps
without a sufficient provision; but she is not desolate! The pang
of nature is felt; but after time has softened sorrow into
melancholy resignation, her heart turns to her children with
redoubled fondness, and anxious to provide for them, affection
gives a sacred heroic cast to her maternal duties. She thinks that
not only the eye sees her virtuous efforts from whom all her
comfort now must flow, and whose approbation is life; but her
imagination, a little abstracted and exalted by grief, dwells on
the fond hope that the eyes which her trembling hand closed, may
still see how she subdues every wayward passion to fulfil the
double duty of being the father as well as the mother of her
children. Raised to heroism by misfortunes, she represses the first
faint dawning of a natural inclination, before it ripens into love,
and in the bloom of life forgets her sex--forgets the pleasure of
an awakening passion, which might again have been inspired and
returned. She no longer thinks of pleasing, and conscious dignity
prevents her from priding herself on account of the praise which
her conduct demands. Her children have her love, and her brightest
hopes are beyond the grave, where her imagination often strays.
I think I see her surrounded by her children, reaping the reward of
her care. The intelligent eye meets hers, whilst health and
innocence smile on their chubby cheeks, and as they grow up the
cares of life are lessened by their grateful attention. She lives
to see the virtues which she endeavoured to plant on principles,
fixed into habits, to see her children attain a strength of
character sufficient to enable them to endure adversity without
forgetting their mother's example.
The task of life thus fulfilled, she calmly waits for the sleep of
death, and rising from the grave, may say--"Behold, Thou gavest me
a talent, and here are five talents."
I wish to sum up what I have said in a few words, for I here throw
down my gauntlet, and deny the existence of sexual virtues, not
excepting modesty. For man and woman, truth, if I understand the
meaning of the word, must be the same; yet the fanciful female
character, so prettily drawn by poets and novelists, demanding the
sacrifice of truth and sincerity, virtue becomes a relative idea,
having no other foundation than utility, and of that utility men
pretend arbitrarily to judge, shaping it to their own convenience.
Women, I allow, may have different duties to fulfil; but they are
human duties, and the principles that should regulate the discharge
of them, I sturdily maintain, must be the same.
To become respectable, the exercise of their of their understanding
is necessary, there is of character; I mean bow to the authority
slaves of opinion.
In the superior ranks of life how seldom do we meet with a man of
superior abilities, or even common acquirements? The reason appears
to me clear, the state they are born in was an unnatural one. The
human character has ever been formed by the employments the
individual, or class, pursues; and if the faculties are not
sharpened by necessity, they must remain obtuse. The argument may
fairly be extended to women; for, seldom occupied by serious
business, the pursuit of pleasure gives that insignificancy to
their character which renders the society of the great so insipid.
The same want of firmness, produced by a similar cause, forces them
both to fly from themselves to noisy pleasures, and artificial
passions, till vanity takes place of every social affection, and
the characteristics of humanity can scarcely be discerned. Such are
the blessings of civil governments, as they are at present
organised, that wealth and female softness equally tend to debase
mankind, and are produced by the same cause; but allowing women to
be rational creatures, they should be incited to acquire virtues
which they may call their own, for how can a rational being be
ennobled by anything that is not obtained by its own exertions?
NOTES
[1] "Researches into abstract and speculative truths the
principles and axioms of sciences,--in short, everything which
tends to generalise our ideas,--is not the proper province of
women, their studies should be relative to points of practice; it
belongs to them to apply those principles which men have
discovered- and it is their part to make observations which direct
men to the establishment of general principles. All the ideas of
women, which have not the immediate tendency to points of duty
should be directed to the study of men, and to the attainment of
those agreeable accomplishments which have taste for their object-
for as to works of genius they are beyond their capacity neither
have they sufficient precision or power of attention to succeed in
sciences which require accuracy- and as to physical knowledge, it
belongs to those only who are most active, most inquisitive, who
comprehend the greatest variety of objects; in short, it belongs to
those who have the strongest powers, and who exercise them most, to
judge of the relations between sensible beings and the laws of
nature. A woman who is naturally weak, and does not carry her ideas
to any great extent, knows how to judge and make a proper estimate
of those movements which she sets to work, in order to aid her
weakness; and these movements are the passions of men. The
mechanism she employs is much more powerful than ours, for all her
levers move the human heart. She must have the skill to incline us
to do everything which her sex will not enable her to do herself,
and which is necessary or agreeable to her; therefore she ought to
study the mind of man thoroughly, not the mind of man in general,
abstractedly, but the dispositions of those men to whom she is
subject either by the laws of her country or by the force of
opinion. She should learn to penetrate into their real sentiments
from their conversation, their actions, their looks and gestures.
She should also have the art, by her own conversation, actions,
looks, and gestures, to communicate those sentiments which are
agreeable to them without seeming to intend it. Men will argue more
philosophically about the human heart- but women will read the
heart of men better than they. It belongs to women--if I may be
allowed the expression--to form an experimental morality, and to
reduce the study of man to a system Women have most wit, men have
most genius- women observe, men reason. From the Concurrence of
both we derive the clearest light and the most perfect knowledge
which the human mind is of itself capable of attaining. In one
word, from hence we acquire the most intimate acquaintance, both
with ourselves and others, of which our nature is capable; and it
is thus that art has a constant tendency to perfect those
endowments which nature has bestowed. The world is the book of
women." -- ROUSSEAU'S Emilius.
I hope my readers still remember the comparison which I have
brought forward between women and officers.
[2] "A respectable old man gives the following sensible account of
the method he pursued when educating his daughter: 'I endeavoured
to give both to her mind and body a degree of vigour which is
seldom found in the female sex. As soon as she was sufficiently
advanced in strength to be capable of the lighter labours of
husbandry and gardening I employed her as my constant companion.
Selene--for that was her name--soon acquired a dexterity in ill
these rustic employments which I considered with equal pleasure and
admiration. If women are in general feeble both in body and mind it
arises less from nature than from education. We encourage a vicious
indolence and inactivity which we falsely call delicacy. Instead of
hardening their minds by the severer principles of reason and
philosophy, we breed them to useless art which terminate in vanity
and sensuality. In most of the countries which I had visited they
are taught nothing of an higher nature than a few modulations of
the voice or useless postures of the body; their time is consumed
in sloth or trifles and tribulations become the only pursuit
capable of interesting them. We seem to forget that it is upon the
qualities of the female sex that our own domestic comforts and the
education of our children must depend. And what are the comforts or
the education which a race of being corrupted from their infancy
and unacquainted with all the duties of life are fitted to bestow?
To touch a musical instrument with useless skill to exhibit their
cultural or affected graces to the eyes of indolent and debauched
young men, to dissipate their husband's patrimony in riotous and
unnecessary expenses these are the only arts cultivated by women in
most of the polished nations I had seen. And the consequences are
uniformly such as may be expected to proceed from such polluted
sources -- private and public servitude.
"'But Selene's education was regulated by different views, and
conducted upon severer principles--if that can be called severity
which opens the mind to a sense of moral and religious duties, and
most effectually it arms it against the inevitable evils of life.'"
--Mr. Day's Sandford and Merton, vol. iii.
[3] "I once knew a young person who learned to write before she
learned to read, and began to write with her needle before she
could use a pen. At first, indeed she took it into her head to make
no letter than the O: this letter she was constantly making of all
sizes and always the wrong way. Unluckily one day as she was intent
on this employment, she happened to see herself in the
looking-glass; when, taking a dislike to the constrained attitude
in which she sat while writing she threw away her pen like another
Pallas and determined against making the O any more. Her brother
was also equally averse to writing; it was the confinement however
and not the constrained attitude that most disgusted him."
--Rousseau's Emililus.
[4] "In the union of the sexes, both pursue one common object, but
not in the same manner. From their diversity in this particular,
arises the first determinate difference between the moral relations
of each. The one should be active and strong the other passive and
weak; it is necessary the one should have both the power and the
will and that the other should make little resistance.
"This principle being established it follows that woman is
expressly formed to please the man: if the obligation be reciprocal
also and the man ought to please in his turn it is not so
immediately necessary his great merit is in his power and he
pleases merely because he is strong. This I must confess is not one
of the refined maxims of love; it is however one of the laws of
nature prior to love itself.
"If woman be formed to please and be subjected to man, it is her
place, doubtless, to render herself agreeable to him instead of
challenging his passion. The violence of his desires depends on her
charms is by means of these she should urge him to the exertion of
those powers which nature hath given him. The most successful
method of exciting them, is, to render such exertion necessary by
resistance; as in that case self-love is added to desire and the
one triumphs in the victory which the other is obliged to acquire.
Hence arise the various modes of attack and defence between the
sexes the boldness of one sex and the timidity of the other- and in
a word that bashfulness and modesty with which nature hath armed
the weak in order to subdue the strong." --Rousseau's Emilius.
I shall make no other comment on this ingenious passage than just
to observe that it is the philosophy of lasciviousness.
[5] "O how lovely, exclaims Rousseau, speaking of Sophia, is her
ignorance! Happy is he who is destined to instruct her! She will
never pretend to be the tutor of her husband but will be content to
be his pupil. Far from attempting to subject him to her taste she
will accommodate her self to his. She will be more estimable to him
than if she was learned he will have a pleasure in instructing her.
--Rousseau's Emilius.
I shall content myself with simply asking how friendship can
subsist when love expires between the master and his pupil.
CHAPTER IV
OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF DEGRADATION TO WHICH
WOMAN IS REDUCED BY VARIOUS CAUSES
That woman is naturally weak, or degraded by a concurrence of
circumstances, is, I think, clear. But this position I shall simply
contrast with a conclusion, which I have frequently heard fall from
sensible men in favour of an aristocracy: that the mass of mankind
cannot be anything, or the obsequious slaves, who patiently allow
themselves to be driven forward, would feel their own consequence,
and spurn their chains. Men, they further observe, submit
everywhere to oppression, when they have only to lift up their
heads to throw off the yoke; yet, instead of asserting their
birthright, they quietly lick the dust, and say, "Let us eat and
drink, for tomorrow we die." Women, I argue from analogy, are
degraded by the same propensity to enjoy the present moment, and at
last despise the freedom which they have not sufficient virtue to
struggle to attain. But I must be more explicit.
With respect to the culture of the heart, it is unanimously allowed
that sex is out of the question; but the line of subordination in
the mental powers is never to be passed over.[1] Only "absolute in
loveliness," the portion of rationality granted to woman is,
indeed, very scanty; for denying her genius and judgment, it is
scarcely possible to divine what remains to characterise intellect.
The stamen of immortality, if I may be allowed the phrase is the
perfectibility of human reason; for, were man created perfect, or
did a flood of knowledge break in upon him, when he arrived at
maturity, that precluded error, I should doubt whether his
existence would be continued after the dissolution of the body.
But, in the present state of things, every difficulty in morals
that escapes from human discussion, and equally baffles the
investigation of profound thinking, and the lightning glance of
genius, is an argument on which I build my belief of the
immortality of the soul. Reason is, consequentially, the simple
power of improvement; or, more properly speaking, of discerning
truth. Every individual is in this respect a world in itself. More
or less may be conspicuous in one being than another; but the
nature of reason must be the same in all, if it be an emanation of
divinity, the tie that connects the creature with the Creator; for,
can that soul be stamped with the heavenly image, that is not
perfected by the exercise of its own reason?[2] Yet outwardly
ornamented with elaborate care, and so adorned to delight man, "
that with honour he may love,"[3] the soul of woman is not allowed
to
have this distinction, and man, ever placed between her and reason,
she is always represented as only created to see through a gross
medium, and to take things on trust. But dismissing these fanciful
theories, and considering woman as a whole, let it be what it will,
instead of a part of man, the inquiry is whether she have reason or
not. If she have, which, for a moment, I will take for granted, she
was not created merely to be the solace of man, and the sexual
should not destroy the human character.
Into this error men have, probably, been led by viewing education
in a false light; not considering it as the first step to form a
being advancing gradually towards perfection;[4] but only as a
preparation for life. On this sensual error, for I must call it so,
has the false system of female manners been reared, which robs the
whole sex of its dignity, and classes the brown and fair with the
smiling flowers that only adorn the land. This has ever been the
language of men, and the fear of departing from a supposed sexual
character, has made even women of superior sense adopt the same
sentiments.[5] Thus understanding, strictly speaking, has been
denied
to woman; and instinct, sublimated into wit and cunning, for the
purposes of life, has been substituted in its stead.
The power of generalizing ideas, of drawing comprehensive
conclusions from individual observations, is the only acquirement,
for an immortal being, that really deserves the name of knowledge.
Merely to observe, without endeavouring to account for anything,
may (in a very incomplete manner) serve as the common sense of
life; but where is the store laid up that is to clothe the soul
when it leaves the body?
This power has not only been denied to women; but writers have
insisted that it is inconsistent, with a few exceptions, with their
sexual character. Let men prove this, and I shall grant that woman
only exists for man. I must, however, previously remark, that the
power of generalizing ideas, to any great extent, is not very
common amongst men or women. But this exercise is the true
cultivation of the understanding; and everything conspires to
render the cultivation of the understanding more difficult in the
female than the male world.
I am naturally led by this assertion to the main subject of the
present chapter, and shall now attempt to point out some of the
causes that degrade the sex, and prevent women from generalizing
their observations.
I shall not go back to the remote annals of antiquity to trace the
history of woman; it is sufficient to allow that she has always
been either a slave or a despot, and to remark that each of these
situations equally retards the progress of reason. The grand source
of female folly and vice has ever appeared to me to arise from
narrowness of mind; and the very constitution of civil governments
has put almost insuperable obstacles in the way to prevent the
cultivation of the female understanding; yet virtue can be built on
no other foundation. The same obstacles are thrown in the way of
the rich, and the same consequences ensue.
Necessity has been proverbially termed the mother of invention; the
aphorism may be extended to virtue. It is an acquirement, and an
acquirement to which pleasure must be sacrificed; and who
sacrifices pleasure when it is within the grasp, whose mind has not
been opened and strengthened by adversity, or the pursuit of
knowledge goaded on by necessity? Happy is it when people have the
cares of life to struggle with, for these struggles prevent their
becoming a prey to enervating vices, merely from idleness. But if
from their birth men and women be placed in a torrid zone, with the
meridian sun of pleasure darting directly upon them, how can they
sufficiently brace their minds to discharge the duties of life; or
even to relish the affections that carry them out of themselves?
Pleasure is the business of woman's life, according to the present
modification of society; and while it continues to be so, little
can be expected from such weak beings. Inheriting in a lineal
descent from the first fair defect in nature--the sovereignty of
beauty--they have, to maintain their-power, resigned the natural
rights which the exercise of reason might have procured them, and
chosen rather to be short-lived queens than labour to obtain the
sober pleasures that arise from equality. Exalted by their
inferiority (this sounds like a contradiction), they constantly
demand homage as women, though experience should teach them that
the men who pride themselves upon paying this arbitrary insolent
respect to the sex, with the most scrupulous exactness) are most
inclined to tyrannise over, and despise the very weakness they
cherish. Often do they repeat Mr. Hume's sentiments, when,
comparing the French and Athenian character, he alludes to
women,--"But what is more singular in this whimsical nation, say I
to the Athenians, is,' that a frolic of yours during the
saturnalia, when the slaves are served by their masters,. is
seriously continued by them through the whole year, and through the
whole course of their lives, accompanied, too, with some
circumstances, which still further augment the absurdity and
ridicule. Your sport only elevates for a few days those whom
fortune has thrown down, and whom she too, in sport, may really
elevate for ever above you. But this nation gravely exalts those
whom nature has subjected to them, and whose inferiority and
infirmities are absolutely incurable. The women, though without
virtue, are their masters and sovereigns."
Ah! why do women--I write with affectionate solicitude-- condescend
to receive a degree of attention and respect from strangers
different from that reciprocation of civility which the dictates of
humanity and the politeness of civilisation authorise between man
and man? And why do they not discover, when "in the noon of
beauty's power," that they are treated like queens only to be
deluded by hollow respect, till they are led to resign, or not
assume, their natural prerogatives? Confined, then, in cages like
the feathered race, they have nothing to do but to plume
themselves, and stalk with mock majesty from perch to perch. It is
true they are provided with food and raiment, for which they
neither toil nor spin; but health, liberty, and virtue are given in
exchange. But where, amongst mankind, has been found sufficient
strength of mind to enable a being to resign these adventitious
prerogatives--one who, rising with the calm dignity of reason above
opinion, dared to be proud of the privileges inherent in man? And
it is vain to expect it whilst hereditary power chokes the
affections, and nips reason in the bud.
The passions of men have thus placed women on thrones, and till
mankind become more reasonable, it is to be feared that women will
avail themselves of the power which they P attain with the least
exertion, and which is the most indisputable. They will smile--yes,
they will smile, though told that:
In beauty's empire is no mean,
And woman, either slave or queen,
Is quickly scorned when not adored
But the adoration comes first, and the scorn is not anticipated.
Louis XIV, in particular, spread factitious manners, and caught, in
a specious way, the whole nation in his toils; for, establishing an
artful chain of despotism, he made it the interest of the people at
large individually to respect his station, and support his power.
And women, whom he flattered by a puerile attention to the whole
sex, obtained in his reign that prince-like distinction so fatal to
reason and virtue.
A king is always a king, and a woman always a woman.[6] His
authority
and her sex ever stand between them and rational converse. With a
lover, I grant. she should be so, and her sensibility will
naturally lead her to endeavour to excite emotion, not to gratify
her vanity, but her heart. This I do not allow to be coquetry; it
is the artless impulse of nature. I only exclaim against the sexual
desire of conquest when the heart is out of the question.
This desire is not confined to women. "I have endeavoured," says
Lord Chesterfield, "to gain the hearts of twenty women, whose
persons I would not have given a fig for." The libertine who, in a
gust of passion, takes advantage of unsuspecting tenderness, is a
saint when compared with this cold-hearted rascal--for I like to
use significant words. Yet only taught to please, women are always
on the watch to please, and with true heroic ardour endeavour to
gain hearts merely to resign or spurn them when the victory is
decided and conspicuous.
I must descend to the minutiae of the subject.
I lament that women are systematically degraded by receiving the
trivial attentions which men think it manly to pay to the sex, when
in fact, they are insultingly supporting their own superiority. It
is not condescension to bow to an inferior. So ludicrous, in fact,
do these ceremonies appear to me that I scarcely am able to govern
my muscles when I see a man with eager and serious solicitude to
lift a handkerchief or shut a door, when the lady could have done
it herself, had she only moved a pace or two.
A wild wish has just flown from my heart to my head, I will not
stifle it, though it may excite a horse-laugh. I do earnestly wish
to see the distinction of sex confounded in society, unless where
love animates the behaviour. For this distinction is, I am firmly
persuaded, the foundation of the weakness of character ascribed to
woman; is the cause why the understanding is neglected, whilst
accomplishments are acquired with sedulous care; and the same cause
accounts for their preferring the graceful before the heroic
virtues.
Mankind, including every description, wish to be loved and
respected by something, and the common herd will always take the
nearest road to the completion of their wishes. The respect paid to
wealth and beauty is the most certain and unequivocal, and, of
course, will always attract the vulgar eye of common minds.
Abilities and virtues are absolutely necessary to raise men from
the middle rank of life into notice, and the natural consequence is
notorious--the middle rank contains most virtue and abilities. Men
have thus, in one station at least, an opportunity of exerting
themselves with dignity, and of rising by the exertions which
really improve a rational creature; but the whole female sex are,
till their character is formed, in the same condition as the rich,
for they are born-- I now speak of a state of civilisation--with
certain sexual privileges; and whilst they are gratuitously granted
them, few will ever think of works of supererogation to obtain the
esteem of a small number of superior people.
When do we hear of women who, starting out of obscurity, boldly
claim respect on account of their great abilities or daring
virtues? Where are they to be found? "To be observed, to be
attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency, and
approbation, are all the advantages which they seek." True! my male
readers will probably exclaim; but let them, before they draw any
conclusion, recollect that this was not written originally as
descriptive of women, but of the rich. In Dr. Smith's Theory of
Moral Sentiments I have found a general character of people of rank
and fortune, that, in my ; opinion, might with the greatest
propriety be applied to the female sex. I refer the sagacious
reader to the whole comparison, but must be allowed to quote a
passage to enforce an argument that I mean to insist on, as the one
most conclusive against a sexual character. For if, excepting
warriors no great men of any denomination have ever appeared
amongst the nobility, may it not be fairly inferred that their
local situation swallowed up the man, and produced a character
similar to that of women, who are localised--if I may be allowed
the word--by the rank they are placed in by courtesy? Women,
commonly called ladies, are not to be contradicted in company, are
not allowed to exert any manual strength; and from them the
negative virtues only are expected, when any virtues are
expected--patience, docility, good humour, and flexibility --
virtues incompatible with any vigorous exertion of intellect.
Besides, by living more with each other, and being seldom
absolutely alone, they are more under the influence of sentiments
than passions. Solitude and reflection are necessary to give to
wishes the force of passions, and to enable the imagination to
enlarge the object, and make it the most desirable. The same may be
said of the rich; they do not sufficiently deal in general ideas,
collected by impassioned thinking or calm investigation, to acquire
that strength of character on which great resolves are built. But
hear what an acute observer says of the great.
"Do the great seem insensible of the easy price at which they may
acquire the public admiration; or do they seem to imagine that to
them, as to other men, it must be the purchase either of sweat or
of blood? By what important accomplishments is the young nobleman
instructed to support the dignity of his rank, and to render
himself worthy of that superiority over his fellow-citizens, to
which the virtue of his ancestors had raised them? Is it by
knowledge, by industry, by patience, by self-denial, or by virtue
of any kind. As all his words, as all his motions are attended to,
he learns an habitual regard to every circumstance of ordinary
behaviour, and studies to perform all those small duties with the
most exact propriety. As he is conscious how much he is observed,
and how much mankind are disposed to favour all his inclinations,
he acts, upon the most indifferent occasions, with that freedom and
elevation which the thought of this naturally inspires. His air,
his manner, his deportment, all mark that elegant and graceful
sense of his own superiority, which those who are born to inferior
station can hardly ever arrive at. These are the arts by which he
proposes to make mankind more easily submit to his authority, and
to govern their inclinations according to his own pleasure; and in
this he is seldom disappointed. These arts, supported by rank and
pre-eminence, are, upon ordinary occasions, sufficient to govern
the world. Louis XIV during the greater part of his reign, was
regarded, not only in France, but over all Europe, as the most
perfect model of a great prince. But what were the talents and
virtues by which he acquired this great reputation? Was it by the
scrupulous and inflexible justice of all his undertakings, by the
immense dangers and difficulties with which they were attended, or
by the unwearied and unrelenting application with which he pursued
them? Was it by his extensive knowledge, by his exquisite judgment,
or by his heroic valour? It was by none of these qualities. But he
was, first of all, the most powerful prince in Europe. and
consequently held the highest rank among kings; and then, says his
historian, 'he surpassed all his courtiers in the gracefulness of
his shape, and the majestic beauty of his features. The sound of
his voice, noble and affecting, gained those hearts which his
presence intimidated. He had a step and a deportment which could
suit only him and his rank, and which would have been ridiculous in
any other person. The embarrassment which he occasioned to those
who spoke to him, flattered that secret satisfaction with which he
felt his own superiority.' These frivolous accomplishments,
supported by his rank, and, no doubt too, by a degree of other
talents and virtues, which seems, however, not to have been much
above mediocrity, established this prince in the esteem of his own
age, and have drawn, even from posterity, a good deal of respect
for his memory. Compared with these, in his own times, and in his
own presence, no other virtue, it seems, appeared to have any
merit. Knowledge, industry, valour, and beneficence trembled, were
abashed, and lost all dignity before them."
Woman also thus "in herself complete," by possessing all these
frivolous accomplishments, so changes the nature of things:
That what she wills to do or say'
Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best;
All higher knowledge in her knowledge falls
Degraded. Wisdom in discourse with her
Loses discountenanced, and, like folly shows;
Authority and reason on her wait.
And all this is built on her loveliness !
In the middle rank of life, to continue the comparison, men, in
their youth, are prepared for professions, and marriage is not
considered as the grand feature in their lives; whilst women, on
the contrary, have no other scheme to sharpen their faculties. It
is not business, extensive plans, or any of the excursive flights
of ambition, that engross their attention; no, their thoughts are
not employed in rearing such noble structures. To rise in the
world, and have the liberty of running from pleasure to pleasure,
they must marry advantageously, and to this object their time is
sacrificed, and their persons often legally prostituted. A man when
he enters any profession has his eye steadily fixed on some future
advantage (and the mind gains great strength by having all its
efforts directed to one point), and, full of his business, pleasure
is considered as mere relaxation; whilst women seek for pleasure as
the main purpose of existence. In fact, from the education, which
they receive from society, the love of pleasure may be said to
govern them all; but does this prove that there is a sex in souls?
It would be just as rational to declare that the courtiers in
France, when a destructive system of despotism had formed their
character, were not men, because liberty, virtue, and humanity,
were sacrificed to pleasure and vanity. Fatal passions, which have
ever domineered over the whole race !
The same love of pleasure, fostered by the whole tendency of their
education, gives a trifling turn to the conduct of women
in most circumstances; for instance, they are ever anxious about
secondary things; and on the watch for adventures instead of being
occupied by duties.
A man, when he undertakes a journey, has, in general, the end in
view; a woman thinks more of the incidental occurrences, the
strange things that may possibly occur on the road; the impression
that she may make on her fellow-travellers; and, above all, she is
anxiously intent on the care of the finery that she carries with
her, which is more than ever a part of herself, when going to
figure on a new scene; when, to use an apt French turn of
expression, she is going to produce a sensation. Can dignity of
mind exist with such trivial cares?
In short, women, in general, as well as the rich of both sexes,
have acquired all the follies and vices of civilisation, and missed
the useful fruit. It is not necessary for me always to premise,
that I speak of the condition of the whole sex, leaving exceptions
out of the question. Their senses are inflamed, and their
understandings neglected, consequently they become the prey of
their senses, delicately termed sensibility, and are blown about by
every momentary gust of feeling. Civilised women are, therefore, so
weakened by false refinement, that, respecting morals, their
condition is much below what it would be were they left in a state
nearer to nature. Ever restless and anxious, their over-exercised
sensibility not only renders them uncomfortable themselves, but
troublesome, to use a soft phrase, to others. All their thoughts
turn on things calculated to excite emotion and feeling, when they
should reason, their conduct is unstable, and their opinions are
wavering--not the wavering produced by deliberation or progressive
views, but by contradictory emotions. By fits and starts they are
warm in many pursuits; yet this warmth, never concentrated into
perseverance, soon exhausts itself; exhaled by its own heat, or
meeting with some other fleeting passion, to which reason has never
given any specific gravity, neutrality ensues. Miserable indeed,
must be that being whose cultivation of mind has only tended to
inflame its passions! A distinction should be made between
inflaming and strengthening them. The passions thus pampered,
whilst the judgment is left unformed, what can be expected to ensue
? Undoubtedly, a mixture of madness and folly!
This observation should not be confined to the fair sex; however,
at present, I only mean to apply it to them.
Novels, music, poetry, and gallantry, all tend to make women the
creatures of sensation, and their character is thus formed in the
mould of folly during the time they are acquiring accomplishments,
the only improvement they are excited, by their station in society,
to acquire. This overstretched sensibility naturally relaxes the
other powers of the mind, and prevents intellect from attaining
that sovereignty which it ought to attain to render a rational
creature useful to others, and content with its own station; for
the exercise of the understanding, as life advances, is the only
method pointed out by nature to calm the passions.
Satiety has a very different effect, and I have often been forcibly
struck by an emphatical description of damnation; when the spirit
is represented as continually hovering with abortive eagerness
round the defiled body, unable to enjoy anything without the organs
of sense. Yet, to their senses, are women made slaves, because it
is by their sensibility that they obtain present power.
And will moralists pretend to assert that this is the condition in
which one-half of the human race should be encouraged to remain
with listless inactivity and stupid acquiescence? Kind instructors!
what were we created for? To remain, it may be said, innocent; they
mean in a state of childhood We might as well never have been born,
unless it were necessary that we should be created to enable man to
acquire the noble privilege of reason, the power of discerning good
from evil, whilst we lie down in the dust from whence we were
taken, never to rise again.
It would be an endless task to trace the variety of meannesses,
cares, and sorrows, into which women are plunged by the prevailing
opinion, that they were created rather to feel than reason, and
that all the power they obtain must be obtained by their charms and
weakness:
Fine by defect, and amiably weak!
And, made by this amiable weakness entirely dependent, excepting
what they gain by illicit sway, on man, not only for protection,
but advice, is it surprising that, neglecting the duties that
reason alone points out, and shrinking from trials calculated to
strengthen their minds, they only exert themselves to give their
defects a graceful covering, which may serve to heighten their
charms in the eye of the voluptuary, though it sink them below the
scale of moral excellence.
Fragile in every sense of the word, they are obliged to look up to
man for every comfort. In the most trifling danger they cling to
their support, with parasitical tenacity, piteously demanding
succour; and their natural protector extends his arm, or lifts up
his voice, to guard the lovely trembler--from what? Perhaps the
frown of an old cow, or the jump of a mouse; a rat would be a
serious danger. In the name of reason, and even common sense, what
can save such beings from contempt; even though they be soft and
fair.
These fears, when not affected, may produce some pretty attitudes;
but they show a degree of imbecility which degrades a rational
creature in a way women are not aware of--for love and esteem are
very distinct things.
I am fully persuaded that we should hear of none of these infantine
airs, if girls were allowed to take sufficient exercise, and not
confined in close rooms till their muscles are relaxed, and their
powers of digestion destroyed. To carry the remark still further,
if fear in girls, instead of being cherished, perhaps, created,
were treated in the same manner as cowardice in boys, we should
quickly see women with more dignified aspects. It is true, they
could not then with equal propriety be termed the sweet flowers
that smile in the walk of man; but they would be more respectable
members of society, and discharge the important duties of life by
the light of their own reason. " Educate women like men," says
Rousseau, "and the more they resemble our sex the less power will
they have over us." This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish
them to have power over men; but over themselves.
In the same strain have I heard men argue against instructing the
poor; for many are the forms that aristocracy assumes. " Teach them
to read and write," say they, " and you take them out of the
station assigned them by nature." An eloquent Frenchman has
answered them, I will borrow his sentiments. " But they know not,
when they make man a brute, that they may expect every instant to
see him transformed into a ferocious beast. Without knowledge there
can be no morality."
Ignorance is a frail base for virtue ! Yet, that it is the
condition for which woman was organised, has been insisted upon by
the writers who have most vehemently argued in favour of the
superiority of man; a superiority not in degree, but offence;
though, to soften the argument, they have laboured to prove, with
chivalrous generosity, that the sexes ought not to be compared; man
was made to reason, woman to feel: and that together, flesh and
spirit, they make the most perfect whole, by blending happily
reason and sensibility into one character.
And what is sensibility? "Quickness of sensation, quickness of
perception, delicacy." Thus is it defined by Dr. Johnson. and the
definition gives me no other idea than of the most exquisitely
polished instinct. I discern not a trace of the image of God in
either sensation or matter. Refined seventy times seven they are
still material; intellect dwells not there; nor will fire ever make
lead gold !
I come round to my old argument: if woman be allowed to have an
immortal soul, she must have, as the employment of life, an
understanding to improve. And when, to render the present state
more complete, though everything proves it to be but a fraction of
a mighty sum, she is incited by present gratification to forget her
grand destination, nature is counteracted, or she was born only to
procreate and rot. Or, granting brutes of every description a soul,
though not a reasonable one the exercise of instinct and
sensibility may be the step which they are to take, in this life,
towards the attainment of reason in the next; so that through all
eternity they will lag behind man, who, why we cannot tell, had the
power given him of attaining reason in his first mode of existence.
When I treat of the peculiar duties of women, as I should treat of
the peculiar duties of a citizen or father, it will be found that
I do not mean to insinuate that they should be taken out of their
families, speaking of the majority. "He that hath wife and
children," says Lord Bacon, "hath given hostages to fortune; for
they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or
mischief. Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the
public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men." I say
the same of women. But the welfare of society is not built on
extraordinary exertions; and were it more reasonably organised,
there would be still less need of great abilities, or heroic
virtues.
In the regulation of a family, in the education of children,
understanding, in an unsophisticated sense, is particularly
required-- strength both of body and mind; yet the men who, by
their writings, have most earnestly laboured to domesticate women,
have endeavoured, by arguments dictated by a gross appetite, which
satiety had rendered fastidious, to weaken their bodies and cramp
their minds. But, if even by these sinister methods they really
persuaded women, by working on their feelings, to stay at home, and
fulfil the duties of a mother and mistress of a family, I should
cautiously oppose opinions that led women to right conduct, by
prevailing on them to make the discharge of such important duties
the main business of life, though reason were insulted. Yet, and I
appeal to experience, if by neglecting the understanding they be as
much, nay, more detached from these domestic employments, than they
could be by the most serious intellectual pursuit, though it may be
observed, that the mass of mankind will never vigorously pursue an
intellectual object,[7] I may be allowed to infer that reason is
absolutely necessary to enable a woman to perform any duty
properly, and I must again repeat, that sensibility is not reason.
The comparison with the rich still occurs to me; for, when men
neglect the duties of humanity, women will follow their example; a
common stream hurries them both along with thoughtless celerity.
Riches and honours prevent a man from enlarging his understanding.
and enervate all his powers by reversing the order of nature, which
has ever made true pleasure the reward of labour. Pleasure
enervating pleasure--is, likewise, within women's reach without
earning it. But, till hereditary possessions are spread abroad, how
can we expect men to be proud of virtue? And, till they are, women
will govern them by the most direct means, neglecting their dull
domestic duties to catch the pleasure that sits lightly on the wing
of time.
"The power of the woman," says some author, "is her sensibility";
and men, not aware of the consequence, do all they can to make this
power swallow up every other. Those who constantly employ their
sensibility will have most; for example, poets, painters, and
composers.[8] Yet, when the sensibility is thus increased at the
expense of reason, and even the imagination, why do philosophical
men complain of their fickleness? The sexual attention of man
particularly acts on female sensibility, and this sympathy has been
exercised from their youth up. A husband cannot long pay those
attentions with the passion necessary to excite lively emotions,
and the heart, accustomed to lively emotions, turns to a new lover,
or pines in secret, the prey of virtue or prudence. I mean when the
heart has really been rendered susceptible, and the taste formed;
for I am apt to conclude, from what I have seen in fashionable
life, that vanity is oftener fostered than sensibility by the mode
of education, and the intercourse between the sexes, which I have
reprobated; and that coquetry more frequently proceeds from vanity
than from that inconstancy which overstrained sensibility naturally
produces.
Another argument that has had great weight with me must, I think,
have some force with every considerate benevolent heart. Girls who
have been thus weakly educated are often cruelly left by their
parents without any provision, and, of course, are dependent on not
only the reason, but the bounty of their brothers. These brothers
are, to view the fairest side of the question, good sort of men,
and give as a favour what children of the same parents had an equal
right to. In this equivocal humiliating situation a docile female
may remain some time with a tolerable degree of comfort. But when
the brother marries--a probable circumstance-- from being
considered as the mistress of the family, she is viewed with
averted looks as an intruder, an unnecessary burden on the
benevolence of the master of the house and his new partner.
Who can recount the misery which many unfortunate beings, whose
minds and bodies are equally weak, suffer in such situations--
unable to work, and ashamed to beg? The wife, a cold-hearted,
narrow-minded woman--and this is not an unfair supposition, for the
present mode of education does not tend to enlarge the heart any
more than the understanding--is jealous of the little kindness
which her husband shows to his relations; and her sensibility not
rising to humanity, she is displeased at seeing the property of her
children lavished on an helpless sister.
These are matters of fact, which have come under my eye again and
again. The consequence is obvious; the wife has recourse to cunning
to undermine the habitual affection which she is afraid openly to
oppose; and neither tears nor caresses are spared till the spy is
worked out of her home, and thrown on the world, unprepared for its
difficulties; or sent, as a great effort of generosity, or from
some regard to propriety, with a small stipend, and an uncultivated
mind, into joyless solitude.
These two women may be much upon a par with respect to reason and
humanity, and, changing situations, might have acted just the same
selfish part; but had they been differently educated, the case
would also have been very different. The wife would not have had
that sensibility, of which self is the centre, and reason might
have taught her not to expect, and not even to be flattered by, the
affection of her husband, led him to violate prior duties. She
would wish not to him merely because he loved her, but on account
of his virtues; and the sister might have been able to struggle for
herself instead of eating the bitter bread of dependence.
I am, indeed, persuaded that the heart, as well as the
understanding, is opened by cultivation, and by-- which may not
appear so clear-- strengthening the organs. I am not now talking of
momentary flashes of sensibility, but of affections. And, perhaps,
in the education of both sexes, the most difficult task is so to
adjust instruction as not to narrow the understanding, whilst the
heart is warmed by the generous juices of spring, just raised by
the electric fermentation of the season; nor to dry up the feelings
by employing the mind in investigations remote from life.
With respect to women, when they receive a careful education, they
are either made fine ladies, brimful of sensibility, and teeming
with capricious fancies, or mere notable women. The latter are
often friendly, honest creatures, and have a shrewd kind of good
sense, joined with worldly prudence, that often render them more
useful members of society than the fine sentimental lady, though
they possess neither greatness of mind nor taste. The intellectual
world is shut against them. Take them out of their family or
neighbourhood, and they stand still; the mind finding no
employment, for literature affords a fund of amusement which they
have never sought to relish, but frequently to despise. The
sentiments and taste of more cultivated minds appear ridiculous,
even in those whom chance and family connections have led them to
love; but in mere acquaintance they think it all affectation.
A man of sense can only love such a woman on account of her sex,
and respect her because she is a trusty servant. He lets her, to
preserve his own peace, scold the servants, and go to church in
clothes made of the very best materials. A man of her own size of
understanding would probably not agree sa well with her, for he
might wish to encroach on her prerogative, and manage some domestic
concerns himself; yet women, whose minds are not enlarged by
cultivation, or the natural selfishness of sensibility by
reflection, are very unfit to manage a family, for, by an undue
stretch of power, they are always tyrannising to support a
superiority that only rests on the arbitrary distinction of
fortune. The evil is sometimes more serious, and domestics are
deprived of innocent indulgences, and made to work beyond their
strength, in order to enable the notable woman to keep a better
table, and outshine her neighbours in finery and parade. If she
attend to her children, it is in general to dress them in a costly
manner; and whether this attention arise from vanity or fondness,
it is equally pernicious.
Besides, how many women of this description pass their days, or at
least their evenings, discontentedly. Their husbands acknowledge
that they are good managers and chaste wives, but leave home to
seek for more agreeable--may I be allowed to use a significant
French word--piquant society; and the patient drudge, who fulfils
her task like a blind horse in a mill, is defrauded of her just
reward, for the wages due to her are the caresses of her husband;
and women who have so few resources in themselves, do not very
patiently bear this privation of a natural right.
A fine lady, on the contrary, has been taught to look down with
contempt on the vulgar employments of life, though she has only
been incited to acquire accomplishments that rise a degree above
sense; for even corporeal accomplishments cannot be acquired with
any degree of precision unless the understanding has been
strengthened by exercise. Without a foundation of principles taste
is superficial; grace must arise from something deeper than
imitation. The imagination, however, is heated, and the feelings
rendered fastidious, if not sophisticated, or a counterpoise of
judgment is not acquired when the heart still remains artless,
though it becomes too tender.
These women are often amiable, and their hearts are really more
sensible to general benevolence, more alive to the sentiments that
civilise life, than the square-elbowed family drudge; but, wanting
a due proportion of reflection and self-government, they only
inspire love, and are the mistresses of their husbands, whilst they
have any hold on their affections, and the Platonic friends of his
male acquaintance. These are the fair defects in Nature; the women
who appear to be created not to enjoy the fellowship of man, but to
save him from sinking into absolute brutality, by rubbing off the
rough angles of his character, and by playful dalliance to give
some dignity to the appetite that draws him to them. Gracious
Creator of the whole human race! hast Thou created such a being as
woman, who can trace Thy wisdom in Thy works, and feel that Thou
alone art by Thy nature exalted above her, for no better purpose?
Can she believe that she was only made to submit to man, her
equal--a being who, like her, was sent into the world to acquire
virtue? Can she consent to be occupied merely to please him--merely
to adorn the earth--when her soul is capable of rising to Thee? And
can she rest supinely dependent on man for reason, when she ought
to mount with him the arduous steeps of knowledge?
Yet if love be the supreme good, let woman be only educated to
inspire it, and let every charm be polished to intoxicate the
senses; but if they be moral beings, let them have a chance to
become intelligent; and let love to man be only a part of that
glowing flame of universal love, which, after encircling humanity,
mounts in grateful incense to God.
To fulfil domestic duties much resolution is necessary, and a
serious kind of perseverance that requires a more firm support than
emotions, however lively and true to nature. To give an example of
order, the soul of virtue, some austerity of behaviour must be
adopted, scarcely to be expected from a being who, from its
infancy, has been made the weathercock of its own sensations.
Whoever rationally means to be useful must have a plan of conduct;
and in the discharge of the simplest duty, we are often obliged to
act contrary to the present impulse of tenderness or compassion.
Severity is frequently the most certain as well as the most sublime
proof of affection; and the want of this power over the feelings,
and of that lofty, dignified affection which makes a person prefer
the future good of the beloved object to a present gratification,
is the reason why so many fond mothers spoil their children,
and-has made it questionable whether negligence or indulgence be
most hurtful; but I am inclined to think that the latter has done
most harm.
Mankind seem to agree that children should be left under the
management of women during their childhood. Now, from all the
observation that I have been able to make, women of sensibility are
the most unfit for this task, because they will infallibly, carried
away by their feelings, spoil a child's temper. The management of
the temper, the first, and most important branch of education,
requires the sober steady eye of reason; a plan of conduct equally
distant from tyranny and indulgence: yet these are the extremes
that people of sensibility alternately fall into; always shooting
beyond the mark. I have followed this train of reasoning much
further, till I have concluded, that a person of genius is the most
improper person to be employed in education, public or private.
Minds of this rare species see things too much in masses, and
seldom, if ever, have a good temper. That habitual cheerfulness,
termed good humour, is perhaps, as seldom united with great mental
powers, as with strong feelings. And those people who follow, with
interest and admiration, the flights of genius; or, with cooler
approbation suck in the instruction which has been elaborately
prepared for them by the profound thinker, ought not to be
disgusted, if they find the former choleric, and the latter morose;
because liveliness of fancy, and a tenacious comprehension of mind,
are scarcely compatible with that pliant urbanity which leads a
man, at least, to bend to the opinions and prejudices of others,
instead of roughly confronting them.
But, treating of education or manners, minds of a superior class
are not to be considered, they may be left to chance; it is the
multitude, with moderate abilities, who call for instruction, and
catch the colour of the atmosphere they breathe. This respectable
concourse, I contend, men and women, should not have their
sensations heightened in the hot-bed of luxurious indolence, at the
expense of their understanding; for, unless there be a ballast of
understanding, they will never become either virtuous or free: an
aristocracy, founded on property or sterling talents, will ever
sweep before it the alternately timid and ferocious slaves of
feeling.
Numberless are the arguments, to take another view of the subject,
brought forward with a show of reason, because supposed to be
deduced from nature, that men have used morally and physically, to
degrade the sex. I must notice a few.
The female understanding has often been spoken of with contempt, as
arriving sooner at maturity than the male. I shall not answer this
argument by alluding to the early proofs of reason, as well as
genius, in Cowley, Milton, and Pope,[9] but only appeal to
experience
to decide whether young men, who are early introduced into company
(and examples now abound), do not acquire the same precocity. So
notorious is this fact, that the bare mentioning of it must bring
before people, who at all mix in the world, the idea of a number of
swaggering apes of men, whose understandings are narrowed by being
brought into the society of men when they ought to have been
spinning a top or twirling a hoop.
It has also been asserted, by some naturalists, that men do not
attain their full growth and strength till thirty; but that women
arrive at maturity by twenty. I apprehend that they reason on false
ground, led astray by the male prejudice, which deems beauty the
perfection of woman--mere beauty of features 'and complexion, the
vulgar acceptation of the word, whilst male beauty is allowed to
have some connection with the mind. Strength of body, and that
character of countenance which the French term a physionomic, women
do not acquire before thirty, any more than men. The little artless
tricks of children, it is true, are particularly pleasing and
attractive; yet, when the pretty freshness of youth is worn off,
these artless graces become studied airs, and disgust every person
of taste. In the countenance of girls we only look for vivacity and
bashful modesty; but, the spring tide of life over, we look for
soberer sense in the face, and for traces of passion, instead of
the dimples of animal spirits; expecting to see individuality of
character, the only fastener of the affections.[10] We then wish to
converse, not to fondle; to give scope to our imaginations as well
as to the sensations of our hearts.
At twenty the beauty of both sexes is equal; but the libertinism of
man leads him to make the distinction, and superannuated coquettes
are commonly of the same opinion; for when they can no longer
inspire love, they pay for the vigour and vivacity of youth. The
French, who admit more of mind into their notions of beauty, give
the preference to women of thirty. I mean to say that they allow
women to be in their most perfect state, when vivacity gives place
to reason, and to that majestic seriousness of character, which
marks maturity or the resting point. In youth, till twenty, the
body shoots out, till thirty, the solids are attaining a degree of
density; and the flexible muscles, growing daily more rigid, give
character to the countenance; that is, they trace the operations of
the mind with the iron pen of fate, and tell us not only what
powers are within, hut how they have been employed.
It is proper to observe, that animals who arrive slowly at
maturity, are the longest lived, and of the noblest species. Men
cannot, however, claim any natural superiority from the grandeur of
longevity; for in this respect nature has not distinguished the
male.
Polygamy is another physical degradation; and a plausible argument
for a custom, that blasts every domestic virtue, is drawn from the
well-attested fact, that in the countries where it is established,
more females are born than males. This appears to be an indication
of nature, and to nature, apparently reasonable speculations must
yield. A further conclusion obviously presented itself; if polygamy
be necessary, woman must be inferior to man, and made for him.
With respect to the formation of the fetus in the womb, we are very
ignorant; but it appears to me probable, that an accidental
physical cause may account for this phenomenon, and prove it not to
be a law of nature. I have met with some pertinent observations on
the subject in Foster's Account of the Isles of the South Sea, that
will explain my meaning. After observing that of the two sexes
amongst animals, the most vigorous and hottest constitution always
prevails, and produces its kind; he adds,--"If this be applied to
the inhabitants of Africa, it is evident that the men there,
accustomed to polygamy, are enervated by the use of so many women,
and therefore less vigorous; the women, on the contrary, are of a
hotter constitution, not only on account of their more irritable
nerves, more sensible organisation, and more lively fancy; but
likewise because they are deprived in their matrimony of that share
of physical love which, in a monogamous condition, would all be
theirs; and thus, for the above reasons, the generality of the
children are born females.
"In the greater part of Europe it has been proved by the most
accurate lists of mortality, that the proportion of men to women is
nearly equal, or, if any difference takes place, the males born are
more numerous, in the proportion of 105 to 100."
The necessity of polygamy, therefore, does not appear; yet when a
man seduces a woman, it should, I think, be termed a left-handed
marriage, and the man should be legally obliged to maintain the
woman and her children, unless adultery, a natural divorcement,
abrogated the law. And this law should remain in force as long as
the weakness of women caused the word seduction to be used as an
excuse for their frailty and want of principle; nay, while they
depend on man for a subsistence, instead of earning it by the
exertion of their own hands or heads. But these women should not,
in the full meaning of the relationship, be termed wives, or the
very purpose of marriage would be subverted, and all those
endearing charities that flow from personal fidelity, and give a
sanctity to the tie, when neither love nor friendship unites the
hearts, would melt into selfishness. The woman who is faithful to
the father of her children demands respect, and should not be
treated like a prostitute; though I readily grant that if it be
necessary for a man and woman to live together in order to bring up
their offspring, nature never intended that a man should have more
than one wife.
Still, highly as I respect marriage, as the foundation of almost
every social virtue, I cannot avoid feeling the most lively
compassion for those unfortunate females who are broken off from
society, and by one error torn from all those affections and
relationships that improve the heart and mind. It does not
frequently even deserve the name of error; for many innocent girls
become the dupes of a sincere, affectionate heart, and still more
are, as it may emphatically be termed, ruined before they know the
difference between virtue and vice, and thus prepared by their
education for infamy, they become infamous. Asylums and Magdalens
are not the proper remedies for these abuses. It is justice, not
charity, that is wanting in the world!
A woman who has lost her honour imagines that she cannot fall
lower, and as for recovering her former station, it is impossible;
no exertion can wash this stain away. Losing, thus every spur, and
having no other means of support, prostitution becomes her only
refuge, and the character is quickly depraved by circumstances over
which the poor wretch has little power, unless she possesses an
uncommon portion of sense and loftiness of spirit. Necessity never
makes prostitution the business of men's lives; though numberless
are the women who are thus rendered systematically vicious. This,
however, arises in a great degree from the state of idleness in
which women are educated, who are always taught to look up to man
for a maintenance, and to consider their persons as the proper
return for his exertions to support them. Meretricious airs, and
the whole science of wantonness, have then a more powerful stimulus
than either appetite or vanity; and this remark gives force to the
prevailing opinion, that with chastity all is lost that is
respectable in woman. Her character depends on the observance of
one virtue, though the only passion fostered in her heart is love.
Nay, the honour of a woman is not made even to depend on her will.
When Richardson [11] makes Clarissa tell Lovelace that he had
robbed her of her honour, he must have had strange notions of
honour and virtue. For, miserable beyond all names of misery is the
condition of a being, who could be degraded without its own
consent! This excess of strictness I have heard vindicated as a
salutary error. I shall answer in the words of have more
Leibnitz--" Errors are often useful; but it is commonly to remedy
other errors."
Most of the evils of life arise from a desire of present enjoyment
that outruns itself. The obedience required of women in the
marriage state comes under this description; the mind, naturally
weakened by depending on authority, never exerts its own powers,
and the obedient wife is thus rendered a weak indolent mother. Or,
supposing that this is not always the consequence, a future state
of existence is scarcely taken into the reckoning when only
negative virtues are cultivated. For, in treating of morals,
particularly when women are alluded to, writers have too often
considered virtue in a very limited sense, and made the foundation
of it solely worldly utility; nay, a still more fragile base has
been given to this stupendous fabric, and the wayward fluctuating
feelings of men have been made the standard of virtue. Yes, virtue
as well as religion has been subjected to the decisions of taste.
It would almost provoke a smile of contempt, if the vain
absurdities of man did not strike us on all sides, to observe how
eager men are to degrade the sex from whom they pretend to receive
the chief pleasure of life; and I have frequently with full
conviction retorted Pope's sarcasm on them; or, to speak
explicitly, it has appeared to me applicable to the whole human
race. A love of pleasure or sway seems to divide mankind, and the
husband who lords it in his little harem thinks only of his
pleasure or his convenience. To such lengths, indeed, does an
intemperate love of pleasure carry some prudent men, or worn-out
libertines, who marry to have a safe bedfellow, that they seduce
their own wives. Hymen banishes modesty, and chaste love takes its
flight.
Love, considered as an animal appetite, cannot long feed on itself
without expiring. And this extinction in its own flame may be
termed the violent death of love. But the wife, who has thus been
rendered licentious, will probably endeavour to fill the void left
by the loss of her husband's attentions; for she cannot contentedly
become merely an upper servant after having been treated like a
goddess. She is still handsome, and, instead of transferring her
fondness to her children, she only dreams of enjoying the sunshine
of life. Besides, there are many husbands so devoid of sense and
parental affection that, during the first effervescence of
voluptuous fondness, they refuse to let their wives suckle their
children. They are only to dress and live to please them, and love,
even innocent love, soon sinks into lasciviousness when the
exercise of a duty is sacrificed to its indulgence.
Personal attachment is a very happy foundation for friendship; yet,
when even two virtuous young people marry, it would perhaps be
happy if some circumstances checked their passion; if the
recollection of some prior attachment, or disappointed affection,
made it on one side, at least, rather a match founded on esteem. In
that case they would look beyond the present moment, and try to
render the whole of life respectable, by forming a plan to regulate
a friendship which only death ought to dissolve.
Friendship is a serious affection; the most sublime of all
affections, because it is founded on principle, and cemented by
time. The very reverse may be said of love. In a great degree, love
and friendship cannot subsist in the same bosom; even when inspired
by different objects they weaken or destroy each other, and for the
same object can only be felt in succession. The vain fears and fond
jealousies, the winds which fan the flame of love, when judiciously
or artfully tempered, are both incompatible with the tender
confidence and sincere respect of friendship.
Love, such as the glowing pen of genius has traced, exists not on
earth, or only resides in those exalted, fervid imaginations that
have sketched such dangerous pictures. Dangerous, because they not
only afford a plausible excuse to the voluptuary, who disguises
sheer sensuality under a sentimental veil; but as they spread
affectation, and take from the dignity of virtue. Virtue, as the
very word imports, should have an appearance of seriousness, if not
of austerity; and to endeavour to trick her out in the garb of
pleasure, because the epithet has been used as another name for
beauty, is to exalt her on a quicksand; a most insidious attempt to
hasten her fall by apparent respect. Virtue and pleasure are not,
in fact, so nearly allied in this life as some eloquent writers
have laboured to prove. Pleasure prepares the fading wreath, and
mixes the intoxicating cup; but the fruit which virtue gives is the
recompense of toil, and, gradually seen as it ripens, only affords
calm satisfaction; nay, appearing to be the result of the natural
tendency of things, it is scarcely observed. Bread, the common food
of life, seldom thought of as a blessing, supports the constitution
and preserves health; still feasts delight the heart of man, though
disease and even death lurk in the cup or dainty that elevates the
spirits or tickles the palate. The lively heated imagination
likewise, to apply the comparison, draws the picture of love, as it
draws every other picture, with those glowing colours, which the
daring hand will steal from the rainbow, that is directed by a
mind, condemned in a world like this, to prove its noble origin by
panting after unattainable perfection, ever pursuing what it
acknowledges to be a fleeting dream. An imagination of this
vigorous cast can give existence to insubstantial forms, and
stability to the shadowy reveries which the mind naturally falls
into when realities are found vapid. It can then depict love with
celestial charms, and dote on the grand ideal object--it can
imagine a degree of mutual affection that shall refine the soul,
and not expire when it has served as a "scale to heavenly"; and,
like devotion, make it absorb every meaner affection and desire. In
each other's arms, as in a temple, with its summit lost in the
clouds, the world is to be shut out, and every thought and wish
that do not nurture pure affection and permanent virtue. Permanent
virtue! alas! Rousseau, respectable visionary! thy paradise would
soon be violated by the entrance of some unexpected guest. Like
Milton's it would only contain angels, or men sunk below the
dignity of rational creatures. Happiness is not material, it cannot
be seen or felt! Yet the eager pursuit of the good, which everyone
shapes to his own fancy, proclaims man the lord of this lower
world, and to be an intelligential creature, who is not to receive
but acquire happiness. They, therefore, who com- plain of the
delusions of passion, do not recollect that they are exclaiming
against a strong proof of the immortality of the soul.
But leaving superior minds to correct themselves, and pay dearly
for their experience, it is necessary to observe, that it is not
against strong, persevering passions, but romantic wavering
feelings, that I wish to guard the female heart by exercising the
understanding: for these paradisiacal reveries are oftener the
effect of idleness than of a lively fancy.
Women have seldom sufficient serious employment to silence their
feelings; a round of little cares, or vain pursuits frittering away
all strength of mind and organs, they become naturally only objects
of sense. In short, the whole tenor of female education (the
education of society) tends to render the best disposed romantic
and inconstant; and the remainder vain and mean. In the present
state of society this evil can scarcely be remedied, I am afraid,
in the slightest degree; should a more laudable ambition ever gain
ground they may be brought nearer to nature and reason, and become
more virtuous and useful as they grow more respectable.
But, I will venture to assert that their reason will never acquire
sufficient strength to enable it to regulate their conduct, whilst
the making an appearance in the world is the first wish of the
majority of mankind. To this weak wish the natural affections, and
the most useful virtues are sacrificed. Girls marry merely to
better themselves, to borrow a significant vulgar phrase, and have
such perfect power over their hearts as not to permit themselves to
fall in love till a man with a superior fortune offers. on this
subject I mean to enlarge in a future chapter; it is only necessary
to drop a hint at present, because women are so often degraded by
suffering the selfish prudence of age to chill the ardour of youth.
From the same source flows an opinion that young girls ought to
dedicate great part of their time to needlework; yet, this
employment contracts their faculties more than any other that could
have been chosen for them, by confining their thoughts to their
persons. Men order their clothes to be made, and have done with the
subject; women make their own clothes, necessary or ornamental, and
are continually talking about them; and their thoughts follow their
hands. It is not indeed the making of necessaries that weakens the
mind; but the frippery of dress. For, when a woman in the lower
rank of life makes her husband's and children's clothes, she does
her duty, this is her part of the family business; but when women
work only to dress better than they could otherwise afford, it is
worse than sheer loss of time. To render the poor virtuous they
must be employed, and women in the middle rank of life, did they
not ape the fashions of the nobility, without catching their ease,
might employ them, whilst they themselves managed their families,
instructed their children, and exercised their own minds.
Gardening, experimental philosophy, and literature, would afford
them subjects to think of and matter for conversation, that in some
degree would exercise their understandings. The conversation of
Frenchwomen, who are not so rigidly nailed to their chairs to twist
lappets, and knot ribands, is frequently superficial; but, I
contend, that it is not half so insipid as that of those
Englishwomen whose time is spent in making caps, bonnets, and the
whole mischief of trimmings, not to mention shopping,
bargain-hunting, etc., etc.; and it is the decent, prudent women,
who are most degraded by these practices; for their motive is
simply vanity. The wanton who exercises her taste to render her
passion alluring, has something more in view.
These observations all branch out of a general one, which I have
before made, and which cannot be too often insisted upon, for,
speaking of men, women, or professions, it will be found that the
employment of the thoughts shapes the character both generally and
individually. The thoughts of women ever hover round their persons,
and is it surprising that their persons are reckoned most valuable?
Yet some degree of liberty of mind is necessary even to form the
person; and this may be one reason why some gentle wives have so
few attractions beside that of sex. Add to this, sedentary
employments render the majority of women sickly--and false notions
of female excellence make them proud of this delicacy, though it be
another fetter, that by calling the attention continually to the
body, cramps the activity of the mind.
Women of quality seldom do any of the manual part of their dress,
consequently only their taste is exercised, and they acquire, by
thinking less of the finery, when the business of their toilet is
over, that ease, which seldom appears in the deportment of women,
who dress merely for the sake of dressing. In fact, the observation
with respect to the middle rank, the one in which talents thrive
best, extends not to women; for those of the superior class, by
catching, at least, a smattering of literature, and conversing more
with men, on general topics, acquire more knowledge than the women
who ape their fashions and faults without sharing their advantages.
With respect to virtue, to use the word in a comprehensive sense,
I have seen most in low life. Many poor women maintain their
children by the sweat of their brow, and keep together families
that the vices of the fathers would have scattered abroad; but
gentlewomen are too indolent to be actively virtuous, and are
softened rather than refined by civilisation. Indeed, the good
sense which I have met with, among the poor women who have had few
advantages of education, and yet have acted heroically, strongly
confirmed me in the opinion that trifling employments have rendered
woman a trifler. Man, taking her [12] body, the mind is left to
rust; so that while physical love enervates man, as being his
favourite recreation, he will endeavour to enslave woman:--and, who
can tell, how many generations may be necessary to give vigour to
the virtue and talents of the freed posterity of abject slaves?[13]
In tracing the causes that, in my opinion, have degraded woman, I
have confined my observations to such as universally act upon the
morals and manners of the whole sex, and to me it appears clear
that they all spring from want of understanding. Whether this arise
from a physical or accidental weakness of faculties, time alone can
determine; for I shall not lay any great stress on the example of
a few women [14] who, from having received a masculine education,
have acquired courage and resolution; I only contend that the men
who have been placed in similar situations, have acquired a similar
character--I speak of bodies of men, and that men of genius and
talents have started out of a class, in which women have never yet
been placed.
[1] Into what inconsistencies do men fall when thy argue without
the compass of principles. Women, weak women, are compared with
angels; yet, a superior order of beings should be supposed to
possess more intellect than man; or, in what does their superiority
consist? In the same strain, to drop the sneer, they are allowed to
possess more goodness of heart; piety, and benevolence. I doubt the
fact, though it be courteously brought forward, unless ignorance be
allowed to be the mother of devotion; for I am firmly persuaded
that, on an average, the proportion between virtue and knowledge,
is more upon a par than is commonly granted.
[2] "The brutes," says Lord Monboddo, "remain in the states in
which nature has placed them, except in so far as their natural
instinct is improved by the culture we bestow upon them."
[3] Vide Milton.
[4] This word is not stricly just, but I cannot find a better.
[5] "Pleasure's the portion of th' inferior kind;
But glory, virtue, Heaven for man designed."
After writing these lines, how could Mrs. Barbauld write the
following ignoble comparison?
"To a Lady with Some Painted Flowers
"Flowers to the fair: to you these flowers I bring,
And strive to greet you with an earlier spring.
Flowers, sweet, and gay, and delicate like you;
Emblems of innocence, and beauty too
With flowers the Graces bind their yellow hair
And flowery wreaths consenting lovers wear.
Flowers, the sole luxury which Nature knew,
In Eden's pure and guiltless garden grew.
To loftiers forms are rougher tasks assign'd;
The sheltering oak resists the stromy wind,
The tougher yew repels invading foes,
And the tall pine for future navies grows;
But this soft family, to cares unknown,
Were born for pleasure and delights alone.
Gay without toil, and lovely without art,
They spring to cheer the sense, and glad the heart.
Nor blush, my fair, to own you copy these;
Your best, you sweetest empire is -- to please."
So the men tell us; but virtue, says reason, must be acquired by
rough toils, and useful struggles with worldly cares.
[6] And a wit always a wit, might be added, for the vain fooleries
of wits and beauties to obtain attention, and make conquests, are
much upon a par.
[7] The mass of mankind are rather the slaves of their appetites
than of their passions.
[8] Men of these descriptions pour sensibility into their
compositions, to amalgamate the gross materials; and moulding them
with passion, give to the inert body a soul; but in woman's
imagination, love alone concentrates these ethereal beams.
[9] Many other names might be added.
[10] The strength of an affection is, generally, in the same
proportion as the character of the species in the object beloved,
lost in that of the individual.
[11] Dr. Young supports the same opinion, in his plays, when he
talks of the misfortune that shunned the light of day.
[12] "I take her body," says Ranger.
[13] "Supposing that women are voluntary slaves -- slavery of any
kind is unfavourable to human happiness and improvement." --Knox's
Essays.
[14] Sappho, Eloisa, Mrs. Macauly, the Empress of Russia, Madame
d'Eon, etc. These, and many more, may be reckoned exceptions; and
are not all heroes, as well as heroines, exceptions to general
rules? I wish to see women neither heroines nor brutes; but
reasonable creatures.
CHAPTER V
ANIMADVERSIONS ON SOME OF THE WRITERS WHO HAVE RENDERED
WOMEN OBJECTS OF PITY, BORDERING ON CONTEMPT
The opinions speciously supported in some modern publications on
the female character and education, which have given the tone to
most of the observations made, in a more cursory manner, on the
sex, remain now to be examined.
SECTION I
I shall begin with Rousseau, and give a sketch of his character of
woman in his own words, interspersing comments and reflections. My
comments, it is true, will all spring from a few simple principles,
and might have been deduced from what I have already said; but the
artificial structure has been raised with so much ingenuity that it
seems necessary to attack it in a more circumstantial manner, and
make the application myself.
Sophia, says Rousseau, should be as perfect a woman as Emilius is
a man, and to render her so it is necessary to examine the
character which nature has given to the sex.
He then proceeds to prove that woman ought to be weak and passive,
because she has less bodily strength than man; and hence infers
that she was formed to please and to be subject to him, and that it
is her duty to render herself agreeable to her master-- this being
the grand end of her existence.[1] Still, however, to give a little
mock dignity to lust, he insists that man should not exert his
strength, but depend on the will of the woman, when he seeks for
pleasure with her.
"Hence we deduce a third consequence from the different
constitutions of the sexes, which is that the strongest should be
master in appearance, and be dependent, in fact, on the weakest,
and that not from any frivolous practice of gallantry or vanity of
protectorship, but from an invariable law of nature, which,
furnishing woman with a greater facility to excite desires than she
has given man to satisfy them, makes the latter dependent on the
good pleasure of the former, and compels him to endeavour to please
in his turn, in order to obtain her consent that he should be
strongest.[2] On these occasions the most delightful circumstance
a
man finds in his victory is to doubt whether it was the woman's
weakness that yielded to his superior strength, or whether her
inclinations spoke in his favour; the females are also generally
artful enough to leave this matter in doubt. The understanding of
women answers in this respect perfectly to their constitution. So
far from being ashamed of their weakness, they glory in it; their
tender muscles make no resistance; they affect to be incapable of
lifting the smallest burdens, and would blush to be thought robust
and strong. To what purpose is all this? Not merely for the sake of
appearing delicate, but through an artful precaution. It is thus
they provide an excuse beforehand, and a right to be feeble when
they think it expedient."
I have quoted this passage lest my readers should suspect that I
warped the author's reasoning to support my own arguments. I have
already asserted that in educating women these fundamental
principles lead to a system of cunning and lasciviousness.
Supposing woman to have been formed only to please, and be subject
to man, the conclusion is just. She ought to sacrifice every other
consideration to render herself agreeable to him, and let this
brutal desire of self-preservation be the grand spring of all her
actions, when it is proved to be the iron bed of fate, to fit which
her character should be stretched or contracted, regardless of all
moral or physical distinctions. But if, as I think, may be
demonstrated, the purposes of even this life, viewing the whole, be
subverted by practical rules built upon this ignoble base, I may be
allowed to doubt whether woman were created for man; and though the
cry of irreligion, or even atheism, be raised against me, I will
simply declare that were an angel from Heaven to tell me that
Moses' beautiful poetical cosmogony, and the account of the fall of
man, were literally true, I could not believe what my reason told
me was derogatory to the character of the Supreme Being; and,
having no fear of the devil before mine eyes, I venture to call
this a suggestion of reason, instead of resting my weakness on the
broad shoulders of the first seducer of my frail sex.
"It being once demonstrated," continues Rousseau, "that man and
woman are not, nor ought to be, constituted alike in temperament
and character, it follows, of course, that they should not be
educated in the same manner. In pursuing the directions of nature,
they ought, indeed, to act in concert, but they should not be
engaged in the same employments; the end of their pursuits should
be the same, but the means they should take to accomplish them,
and, of consequence, their tastes and inclinations, should be
different
. . . . .
"Whether I consider the peculiar destination of the sex, observe
their inclinations, or remark their duties, all things equally
concur to point out the peculiar method of education best adapted
to them. Woman and man were made for each other, but their mutual
dependence is not the same. The men depend on the women only on
account of their desires; the women on the men both on account of
their desires and their necessities. We could subsist better
without them than they without us.
. . . . .
"For this reason the education of the women should be always
relative to the men. To please, to be useful to us, to make us love
and esteem them, to educate us when young, and take care of us when
grown up, to advise, to console us, to render our lives easy and
agreeable--these are the duties of women at all times, and what
they should be taught in their infancy. So long as we fail to recur
to this principle, we run wide of the mark, and all the precepts
which are given them contribute neither to their happiness nor our
own.
. . . . .
"Girls are from their earliest infancy fond of dress. Not content
with being pretty, they are desirous of being thought so. We see,
by all their little airs, that this thought engages their
attention; and they are hardly capable of understanding what is
said to them, before they are to be governed by talking to them of
what people will think of their behaviour. The same motive,
however, indiscreetly made use of with boys, has not the same
effect. Provided they are let pursue their amusements at pleasure,
they care very little what people think of them. Time and pains are
necessary to subject boys to this motive.
"Whencesoever girls derive this first lesson, it is a very good
one. As the body is born, in a manner, before the soul, our first
concern should be to cultivate the former; this order is common to
both sexes, but the object of that cultivation is different. In the
one sex it is the development of corporeal powers; in the other,
that of personal charms. Not that either the quality of strength or
beauty ought to be confined exclusively to one sex, but only that
the order of the cultivation of both is in that respect reversed.
Women certainly require as much strength as to enable them to move
and act gracefully, and men as much address as to qualify them to
act with ease.
. . . . .
"Children of both sexes have a great many amusements in common; and
so they ought; have they not also many such when they are grown up?
Each sex has also its peculiar taste to distinguish in this
particular. Boys love sports of noise and activity; to beat the
drum, to whip the top, and to drag about their little carts: girls,
on the other hand, are fonder of things of show and ornament; such
as mirrors, trinkets, and dolls: the doll is the peculiar amusement
of the females; from whence we see their taste plainly adapted to
their destination. The physical part of the art of pleasing lies in
dress; and this is all which children are capacitated to cultivate
of that art.
. . . . .
"Here then we see a primary propensity firmly established, which
you need only to pursue and regulate. The little creature will
doubtless be very desirous to know how to dress up her doll, to
make its sleeve-knots, its flounces, its head-dress, etc., she is
obliged to have so much recourse to the people about her, for their
assistance in these articles, that it would be much more agreeable
to her to owe them all to her own industry. Hence we have a good
reason for the first lessons that are usually taught these young
females: in which we do not appear to be setting them a task, but
obliging them, by instructing them in what is immediately useful to
themselves. And, in fact, almost all of them learn with reluctance
to read and write; but very readily apply themselves to the use of
their needles. They imagine themselves already grown up, and think
with pleasure that such qualifications will enable them to decorate
themselves." This is certainly only an education of the body; but
Rousseau is not the only man who has indirectly said that merely
the person of a young woman, without any mind, unless animal
spirits come under that description, is very pleasing. To render it
weak, and what some may call beautiful, the under- standing is
neglected, and girls forced to sit still, play with dolls and
listen to foolish conversations;--the effect of habit is insisted
upon as an undoubted indication of nature. I know it was Rousseau's
opinion that the first years of youth should be employed to form
the body, though in educating Emilius he deviates from this plan;
yet, the difference between strengthening the body, on which
strength of mind in a great measure depends, and only giving it an
easy motion, is very wide.
Rousseau's observations, it is proper to remark, were made in a
country where the art of pleasing was refined only to extract the
grossness of vice. He did not go back to nature, or his ruling
appetite disturbed the operations of reason, else he would not have
drawn these crude inferences.
In France boys and girls, particularly the latter, are only
educated to please, to manage their persons, and regulate the
exterior behaviour; and their minds are corrupted, at a very early
age, by the worldly and pious cautions they receive to guard them
against immodesty. I speak of past times. The very confessions
which mere children were obliged to make, and the questions asked
by the holy men, I assert these facts on good authority, were
sufficient to impress a sexual character; and the education of
society was a school of coquetry and art. At the age of ten or
eleven; nay, often much sooner, girls began to coquet, and talked,
unreproved, of establishing themselves in the world by marriage.
In short, they were treated like women, almost from their very
birth, and compliments were listened to instead of instruction.
These weakening the mind, Nature was supposed to have acted like a
step-mother, when she formed this afterthought of creation.
Not allowing them understanding, however, it was but consistent to
subject them to authority independent of reason; and to prepare
them for this subjection, he gives the following advice:
"Girls ought to be active and diligent; nor is that all; they
should also be early subjected to restraint. This misfortune, if it
really be one, is inseparable from their sex; nor do they ever
throw it off but to suffer more cruel evils. They must be subject,
all their lives, to the most constant and severe restraint, which
is that of decorum: it is, therefore, necessary to accustom them
early to such confinement, that it may not afterwards cost them too
dear; and to the suppression of their caprices, that they may the
more readily submit to the will of others. If, indeed, they be fond
of being always at work, they should be sometimes compelled to lay
it aside. Dissipation, levity, and inconstancy, are faults that
readily spring up from their first propensities, when corrupted or
perverted by too much indulgence. To prevent this abuse, we should
teach them, above all things, to lay a due restraint on themselves.
The life of a modest woman is reduced, by our absurd institutions,
to a perpetual conflict with herself: not but it is just that this
sex should partake of the sufferings which arise from those evils
it hath caused us."
And why is the life of a modest woman a perpetual conflict? I
should answer, that this very system of education makes it so.
Modesty, temperance, and self-denial, are the sober offspring of
reason; but when sensibility is nurtured at the expense of the
understanding, such weak beings must be restrained by arbitrary
means, and be subjected to continual conflicts; but give their
activity of mind a wider range, and nobler passions and motives
will govern their appetites and sentiments.
"The common attachment and regard of a mother, nay, mere habit,
will make her beloved by her children, if she do nothing to incur
their hate. Even the constraint she lays them under, if well
directed, will increase their affection, instead of lessening it;
because a state of dependence being natural to the sex, they
perceive themselves formed for obedience."
This is begging the question; for servitude not only debases the
individual, but its effects seem to be transmitted to posterity.
Considering the length of time that women have been dependent, is
it surprising that some of them hunger in chains, and fawn like the
spaniel ? " These dogs," observes a naturalist, " at first kept
their ears erect; but custom has superseded nature, and a token of
fear is become a beauty."
"For the same reason," adds Rousseau, "women have, or ought to
have, but little liberty; they are apt to indulge themselves
excessively in what is allowed them. Addicted in everything to
extremes, they are even more transported at their diversions than
boys."
The answer to this is very simple. Slaves and mobs have always
indulged themselves in the same excesses, when once they broke
loose from authority. The bent bow recoils with violence, when the
hand is suddenly relaxed that forcibly held it; and sensibility,
the plaything of outward circumstances, must be subjected to
authority, or moderated by reason.
"There results," he continues, "from this habitual restraint a
tractableness which women have occasion for during their whole
lives, as they constantly remain either under subjection to the
men, or to the opinions of mankind; and are never permitted to set
themselves above those opinions. The first and most important
qualification in a woman is good nature or sweetness of temper:
formed to obey a being so imperfect as man, often full of vices,
and always full of faults, she ought to learn betimes even to
suffer injustice, and to bear the insults of a husband without
complaint; it is not for his sake, but her own, that she should be
of a mild disposition. The perverseness and ill-nature of the women
only serve to aggravate their own misfortunes, and the misconduct
of their husbands; they might plainly perceive that such are not
the arms by which they gain the superiority."
Formed to live with such an imperfect being as man they ought to
learn from the exercise of their faculties the necessity of
forbearance: but all the sacred rights of humanity are violated by
insisting on blind obedience; or, the most sacred rights belong
only to man.
The being who patiently endures injustice, and silently bears
insults, will soon become unjust, or unable to discern right from
wrong. Besides, I deny the fact, this is not the true way to form
or meliorate the temper; for, as a sex, men have better tempers
than women, because they are occupied by pursuits that interest the
head as well as the heart; and the steadiness of the head gives a
healthy temperature to the heart. People of sensibility have seldom
good tempers. The formation of the temper is the cool work of
reason, when, as life advances, she mixes with happy art, jarring
elements. I never knew a weak or ignorant person who had a good
temper, though that constitutional good humour, and that docility,
which fear stamps on the behaviour, often obtains the name. I say
behaviour, for genuine meekness never reached the heart or mind,
unless as the effect of reflection; and that simple restraint
produces a number of peccant humours in domestic life, many
sensible men will allow, who find some of these gentle irritable
creatures, very troublesome companions.
"Each sex," he further argues, "should preserve its peculiar tone
and manner; a meek husband may make a wife impertinent; but
mildness of disposition on the woman's side will always bring a man
back to reason, at least if he be not absolutely a brute, and will
sooner or later triumph over him."
Perhaps the mildness of reason might sometimes have this defect.
but abject fear always inspires contempt; and tears are only
eloquent when they flow down fair cheeks.
Of what materials can that heart be composed, which can mdt when
insulted, and instead of revolting at injustice, kiss the rod? It
is unfair to infer that her virtue is built on narrow views and
selfishness, who can caress a man, with true feminine softness, the
very moment when he treats her tyrannically. Nature never dictated
such insincerity; and, though prudence of this sort be termed a
virtue, morality becomes vague when any part is supposed to rest on
falsehood. These are mere expedients, and expedients are only
useful for the moment.
Let the husband beware of trusting too implicitly to this i servile
obedience; for if his wife can with winning sweetness, caress him
when angry, and when she ought to be angry, unless contempt has
stifled a natural effervescence, she may do the same after parting
with a lover. These are all preparations for adultery; or, should
the fear of the world, or of hell, restrain her desire of pleasing
other men, when she can no longer please her husband, what
substitute can be found by a being who was only formed, by nature
and art, to please man? what can make her amends for this
privation, or where is she to seek for a fresh employment? where
find sufficient strength of mind to determine to begin the search,
when her habits are fixed, and vanity has long ruled her chaotic
mind?
But this partial moralist recommends cunning systematically and
plausibly.
"Daughters should be always submissive; their mothers, however,
should not be inexorable. To make a young person tractable, she
ought not to be made unhappy; to make her modest she ought not to
be rendered stupid. on the contrary, I should not be displeased at
her being permitted to use some art, not to elude punishment in
case of disobedience, but to exempt herself from the necessity of
obeying. It is not necessary to make her dependence burdensome, but
only to let her feel it. Subtility is a talent natural to the sex;
and, as I am persuaded, all our natural inclinations are right and
good in themselves, I am of opinion this should be cultivated as
well as the others: it is requisite for us only to prevent its
abuse."
"Whatever is, is right," he then proceeds triumphantly to infer.
Granted; yet, perhaps, no aphorism ever contained a more
paradoxical assertion. It is a solemn truth with respect to God.
He, reverentially I speak, sees the whole at once, and saw its just
proportions in the womb of time; but man, who can only inspect
disjointed parts, finds many things wrong; and it is a part of the
system, and therefore, right, that he should endeavour to alter
what appears to him to be so, even while he bows to the wisdom of
his Creator, and respects the darkness he labours to disperse.
The inference that follows is just, supposing the principle to be
sound. "The superiority of address, peculiar to the female sex, is
a very equitable indemnification for their inferiority in point of
strength: without this, woman would not be the companion of
marriage, but his slave; it is by her superior art and ingenuity
that she preserves her equality, and governs him while she affects
to obey. Woman has everything against her, as well our faults, as
her own timidity and weakness; she has nothing in her favour, but
her subtility and her beauty. Is it not very reasonable, therefore,
she should cultivate both?" Greatness of mind can never dwell with
cunning, or address; for I shall not boggle about words, when their
direct signification is insincerity and falsehood, but content
myself with observing, that if any class of mankind be so created
that it must necessarily be educated by rules not strictly
deducible from truth, virtue is an affair of convention. How could
Rousseau dare to assert, after giving this advice, that in the
grand end of existence the object of both sexes should be the same,
when he well knew that the mind, formed by its pursuits, is
expanded by great views swallowing up little ones, or that it
becomes itself little?
Men have superior strength of body; but were it not for mistaken
notions of beauty, women would acquire sufficient to enable them to
earn their own subsistence, the true definition of independence;
and to bear those bodily inconveniences and exertions that are
requisite to strengthen the mind. Let us then, by being allowed to
take the same exercise as boys, not only during infancy, but youth,
arrive at perfection of body, that we may know how far the natural
superiority of man extends. For what reason or virtue can be
expected from a creature when the seed-time of life is neglected?
None; did not the winds of heaven casually scatter many useful
seeds in fallow ground."
Beauty cannot be acquired by dress, and coquetry is an art not so
early and speedily attained. While girls are yet young, however,
they are in a capacity to study agreeable gesture, a pleasing
modulation of voice, an easy carriage and behaviour; as well as to
take the advantage of gracefully looks and attitudes to time,
place, and occasion. Their application, therefore, should not be
solely confined to the arts of industry and the needle, when they
come to display other talents, whose utility is already apparent.
"For my part, I would have a young Englishwoman cultivate her
agreeable talents, in order to please her future husband, with as
much care and assiduity as a young Circassian cultivates hers, to
fit her for the harem of an Eastern bashaw.
To render women completely insignificant, he adds: "The tongues of
women are very voluble; they speak earlier, more readily, and more
agreeably, than the men; they are accused also of speaking much
more: but so it ought to be, and I should be very ready to convert
this reproach into a compliment; their lips and eyes have the same
activity, and for the same reason. A man speaks of what he knows,
a woman of what pleases her; the one requires knowledge, the other
taste; the principal object of a man's discourse should be what is
useful, that of a woman's what is agreeable. There ought to be
nothing in common between their different conversation but truth.
"We ought not, therefore, to restrain the prattle of girls, in the
same manner as we should that of boys, with that severe question,
To what purpose are you talking? but by another, which is no less
difficult to answer, How will your discourse be received? In
infancy, while they are as yet incapable to discern good from evil,
they ought to observe it, as a law never to say anything
disagreeable to those whom they are speaking to. What will render
the practice of this rule also the more difficult is, that it must
ever be subordinate to the former, of never speaking falsely or
telling an untruth." To govern the tongue in this manner must
require great address indeed, and it is too much practised both by
men and women. out of the abundance ;)f the heart how few speak !
So few that I, who love simplicity, would gladly give up politeness
for a quarter of the virtue that has been sacrificed to an
equivocal quality which at best should only be the polish of
virtue.
But, to complete the sketch. "It is easy to be conceived, that if
male children be not in a capacity to form any true notions of
religion, those ideas must be greatly above the conception of the
females: it is for this very reason, I would begin to speak to them
the earlier on this subject; for if we were to wait till they were
in a capacity to discuss methodically such profound questions, we
should run a risk of never speaking to
them on this subject as long as they lived. Reason in women is a
practical reason, capacitating them artfully to discover the means
of attaining a known end, but which would never enable them to
discover that end itself. The social relations of the sexes are
indeed truly admirable: from their union there results a moral
person, of which woman may be termed the eyes, and man the hand,
with this dependence on each other, that it is from the man that
the woman is to learn what she is to see, and it is of the woman
that man is to learn what he ought to do. If woman could recur to
the first principles of things as well as man, and man was
capacitated to enter into their minutiae as well as woman, always
independent of each other, they would live in perpetual discord,
and their union could not subsist. But in the present harmony which
naturally subsists between them, their different faculties tend to
one common end: it is difficult to say which of them conduces the
most to it: each follows the impulse of the other; each is
obedient, and both are masters.
"As the conduct of a woman is subservient to the public opinion,
her faith in matters of religion should, for that very reason, be
subject to authority. Every daughter ought to be of the same
religion as her mother, and every wife to be of the same religion
as her husband: for, though such religion should be false, that
docility which induces the mother and daughter to submit to the
order of nature, takes away, in the sight of God, the criminality
of their error.[3] As they are not in a capacity to judge for
themselves, they ought to abide by the decision of their fathers
and husbands as confidently as by that of the Church.
"As authority ought to regulate the religion of the women, it is
not so needful to explain to them the reasons for their belief, as
to lay down precisely the tenets they are to believe: for the
creed, which presents only obscure ideas to the mind, is the source
of fanaticism; and that which presents absurdities, leads to
infidelity."
Absolute, uncontroverted authority, it seems, must subsist
somewhere: but is not this a direct and exclusive appropriation of
reason? The rights of humanity have been thus confined to the male
line from Adam downwards.
Rousseau would carry his male aristocracy still further, he
insinuates, that he should not blame those, who contend _ leaving
woman in a state of the most profound ignorance, if it were not
necessary in order to preserve her chastity and justify the man's
choice, in the eyes of the world, to give her a little knowledge of
men, and the customs produced by human passions; else she might
propagate at home without being rendered less voluptuous and
innocent by the exercise of her understanding: excepting, indeed,
during the first year of marriage, when she might employ it to
dress like Sophia. "Her dress is extremely modest in appearance,
and yet very coquettish in fact: she does not make a display of her
charms, she conceals them; but in concealing them, she knows how to
affect your imagination. Everyone who sees her will say, There is
a modest and discreet girl; but while you are near her, your eyes
and affections wander all over her person, so that you cannot
withdraw them; and you would conclude, that every part of her
dress, simple as it seems, was only put in its proper order to be
taken to pieces by the imagination." Is this modesty? Is this a
preparation for immortality? Again, What opinion are we to form of
a system of education, when the author says of his heroine, "that
with her, doing things well, is but a secondary concern; her
principal concern is to do them neatly."
Secondary, in fact, are all her respecting religion, he makes her
accustomed to submission--"Your husband will instruct you in good
time."
After thus cramping a woman's mind, if, in order to keep it fair,
he have not made it quite reflect, that a reflecting man may when
he is tired of caressing her. What has she to reflect about who
must obey? and would it not be a refinement on cruelty only to open
her mind to make the darkness and misery of her fate visible? Yet
these are his sensible remarks; how consistent with what I have
already been obliged to quote, to give a fair view of the subject,
the reader may determine.
"They who pass their whole lives in working for their daily bread,
have no ideas beyond their business or their interest, and all
their understanding seems to lie in their fingers' ends. This
ignorance is neither prejudicial to their integrity nor their
morals; it is often of service to them. Sometimes, by means of
reflection, we are led to compound with our duty, and we conclude
by substituting a jargon of words in the room of things. our own
conscience is the most enlightened philosopher. There is no need to
be acquainted with Tully's offices, to make a man of probity; and
perhaps the most virtuous woman in the world is the least
acquainted with the definition of virtue. But it is no less true,
that an improved understanding only can render society agreeable;
and it is a melancholy thing for a father of a family, who is fond
of home, to be obliged to be always wrapped up in himself, and to
have nobody about him to whom he can impart his sentiments.
"Besides, how should a woman void of reflection be capable of
educating her children? How should she discern what is proper for
them? How should she incline them to those virtues she is
unacquainted with, or to that merit of which she has no idea? She
can only soothe or chide them; render them insolent or timid; she
will make them formal coxcombs, or ignorant blockheads, but will
never make these sensible or amiable." How indeed should she, when
her husband is not always at hand to lend her his reason?--when
they both together make but one moral being. A blind will, " eyes
without hands," would go a very little way; and perchance his
abstract reason, that should concentrate the scattered beams of her
practical reason, may be employed in judging of the flavour of
wine, descanting on the sauces most proper for turtle; or, more
profoundly intent at a card-table, he may be generalising his ideas
as he bets away his fortune, leaving all the minutiae of education
to his helpmate, or to chance.
But, granting that woman ought to be beautiful, innocent, and
silly, to render her a more alluring and indulgent companion;
--what is her understanding sacrificed for? And why is all this
preparation necessary only, according to Rousseau's own account, to
make her the mistress of her husband, a very short time? For no man
ever insisted more on the transient nature of love. Thus speaks the
philosopher, "Sensual pleasures are transient. The habitual state
of the affections always loses by their gratification. The
imagination, which decks the object of our desires, is lost in
fruition. Excepting the Supreme Being, who is self-existent, there
is nothing beautiful but what is ideal."
But he returns to his unintelligible paradoxes again, when he thus
addresses Sophia--"Emilius, in becoming your husband, is become
your master, and claims your obedience. Such is the order of
nature. When a man is married, however, to such a wife as Sophia,
it is proper he should be directed by her. This is also agreeable
to the order of nature. It is, therefore, to give you as much
authority over his heart as his sex gives him over your person that
I have made you the arbiter of his pleasures. It may cost you,
perhaps, some disagreeable self-denial; but you will be certain of
maintaining your empire over him, if you can preserve it over shows
me that this difficult attempt does not surpass your courage.
"Would you have your husband constantly at your feet, keep him at
some distance from your person. You will long maintain the authority
in love, if you know but how to render your favours rare and
valuable. It is thus you may employ even the arts of coquetry in
the service of virtue, and those of love in that of reason." I
shall close my extracts with a just description of a comfortable
couple: " And yet you must not imagine that even such management
will always suffice. Whatever precaution be taken, enjoyment will
by degrees take off the edge of passion. But when love hath lasted
as long as possible, a pleasing habitude supplies its place, and
the attachment of a mutual confidence succeeds to the transports of
passion. Children often form a more agreeable and permanent
connection between married people then even love itself. When you
cease to be the mistress of Emilius, you will continue to be his
wife and friend--you will be the mother of his children."[4]
Children, he truly observes, form a much more permanent connection
between married people than love. Beauty, he declares, will not be
valued, or even seen, after a couple have lived six months
together; artificial graces and coquetry will likewise pall on the
senses. Why, then, does he say that a girl should be educated for
her husband with the same care as for an Eastern harem?
I now appeal from the reveries of fancy and refined licentiousness
to the good sense of mankind, whether, if the object of education
be to prepare women to become chaste wives and sensible mothers,
the method so plausibly recommended in the foregoing sketch be the
one best calculated to produce those ends? Will it be allowed that
the surest way to make a wife chaste is to teach her to practise
the wanton arts of a mistress, termed virtuous coquetry, by the
sensualist who can no longer relish the artless charms of
sincerity, or taste the pleasure arising from a tender intimacy,
when confidence is unchecked by suspicion, and rendered interesting
by sense?
The man who can be contented to live with a pretty, useful
companion, without a mind, has lost in voluptuous gratifications a
taste for more refined enjoyments; he has never felt the calm
satisfaction that refreshes the parched heart like the silent dew
of heaven--of being beloved by one who could understand him. In the
society of his wife he is still alone, unless when the man is sunk
in the brute. "The charm of life," says a grave philosophical
reasoner, is "sympathy; nothing pleases us more than to observe in
other men a fellow-feeling with all the emotions of our own breast"
But according to the tenor of reasoning by which women are kept
from the tree of knowledge, the important years of youth, the
usefulness of age, and the rational hopes of futurity, are all to
be sacrificed to render women an object of desire for a short time.
Besides, how could Rousseau expect them to be virtuous and constant
when reason is neither allowed to be the foundation of their
virtue, nor truth the object of their inquiries?
But all Rousseau's errors in reasoning arose from sensibility, and
sensibility to their charms women are very ready to forgive. When
he should have reasoned he became impassioned, and reflection
inflamed his imagination instead of enlightening his understanding.
Even his virtues also led him farther astray; for, born with a warm
constitution and lively fancy, nature carried him toward the other
sex with such eager fondness that he soon became lascivious. Had he
given way to these desires, the fire would have extinguished itself
in a natural manner, but virtue, and a romantic kind of delicacy,
made him practise self-denial; yet when fear, delicacy, or virtue
restrained him, he debauched his imagination, and reflecting on the
sensations to which fancy gave force, he traced them in the most
glowing colours, and sunk them deep into his soul.
He then sought for solitude, not to sleep with the man of nature,
or calmly investigate the causes of things under the shade where
Sir Isaac Newton indulged contemplation, but merely to indulge his
feelings. And so warmly has he painted what he forcibly felt, that
interesting the heart and inflaming the imagination of his readers,
in proportion to the strength of their fancy, they imagine that
their understanding is convinced when they only sympathise with a
poetic writer, who skilfully exhibits the objects of sense most
voluptuously shadowed or gracefully veiled; and thus making us feel
whilst dreaming that we reason, erroneous conclusions are left in
the mind.
Why was Rousseau's life divided between ecstasy and misery? Can ny
other answer be given than this, that the effervescence of his
imagination produced both; but had his fancy been allowed to cool,
it is possible that he might have acquired more strength of mind.
Still, if the purpose of life be to educate the intellectual part
of man, all-with respect to him was right; yet had not death led to
a nobler scene of action, it is probable that he would have enjoyed
more equal happiness on earth, and have felt the calm sensations of
the man of nature, instead of being prepared for another stage of
existence by nourishing the passions which agitate the civilised
man.
But peace to his manes! I war not with his ashes, but his opinions.
I war only with the sensibility that led him to degrade woman by
making her the slave of love.
"--- Cursed vassalage,
First idolised till love's hot fire be o'er,
Then slaves to those who courted us before."--DRYDEN.
The pernicious tendency of those books, in which the writers
insidiously degrade the sex whilst they are prostrate before their
personal charms, cannot be too often or too severely exposed.
Let us, my dear contemporaries, arise above such narrow pr judices.
If wisdom be desirable on its own account, if virtue, to deserve
the name, must be founded on knowledge, let us endeavour to
strengthen our minds by reflection till our heads become a balance
for our hearts; let us not confine all our thoughts to the petty
occurrences of the day, or our knowledge to an acquaintance with
our lovers' or husbands' hearts, but let the practice of every duty
be subordinate to the grand one of improving our minds, and
preparing our affections for a more exalted state.
Beware, then, my friends, of suffering the heart to be moved by
every trivial incident; the reed is shaken by a breeze, and
annually dies, but the oak stands firm, and for ages braves the
storm.
Were we, indeed, only created to flutter our hour out and die--why
let us then indulge sensibility, and laugh at the severity of
reason. Yet, alas ! even then we should want strength of body and
mind, and life would be lost in feverish pleasures or wearisome
languor.
But the system of Education, which I earnestly wish to see
exploded, seems to presuppose what ought never to be taken for
granted, that virtue shields us from the casualties of life; and
that Fortune, slipping off her bandage, will smile on a
well-educated female, and bring in her hand an Emilius or a
Telemachus. Whilst, on the contrary, the reward which Virtue
promises to her votaries is confined, it seems clear, to their own
bosoms; and often must they contend with the most vexatious worldly
cares, and bear with the vices and humours of relations for whom
they can never feel a friendship.
There have been many women in the world who, instead of being
supported by the reason and virtue of their fathers and brothers,
have strengthened their own minds by struggling with their vices
and follies; yet have never met with a hero, in the shape of a
husband; who, paying the debt that mankind owed them, might chance
to bring back their reason to its natural dependent state, and
restore the usurped prerogative, of rising above opinion, to man.
SECTION II
Dr. Fordyce's sermons have long made a part of a young woman's
library; nay, girls at school are allowed to read them but I should
instantly dismiss them from my pupil's if I wished to strengthen
her understanding, by leading her to form sound principles on a
broad basis; or, were I only anxious to cultivate her taste, though
they must be allowed to contain many sensible observations.
Dr. Fordyce may have had a very laudable end in view; but these
discourses are written in such an affected style, that were it only
on that account, and had I nothing to object against his
mellifluous precepts, I should not allow girls to peruse them,
unless I designed to hunt every spark of nature out of their
composition, melting every human quality into female meekness and
artificial grace. I say artificial, for true grace arises from some
kind of independence of mind.
Children, careless of pleasing, and only anxious to amuse
themselves, are often very graceful; and the nobility who have
mostly lived with inferiors, and always had the command of money,
acquire a graceful ease of deportment, which should rather be
termed habitual grace of body, than that superior gracefulness
which is truly the expression of the mind. This mental grace, not
noticed by vulgar eyes, often flashes across a rough countenance,
and irradiating every feature, shows simplicity and independence of
mind. It is then we read characters of immortality in the eye, and
see the soul in every gesture, though when at rest, neither the
face nor limbs may have much beauty to recommend them; or the
behaviour, anything peculiar to attract universal attention. The
mass of mankind, however, look for more tangible beauty; yet
simplicity is, in general, admired, when people do not consider
what they admire ? and can there be simplicity without sincerity?
But, to have done with remarks that are in some measure desultory,
though naturally excited by the subject.
In declamatory periods Dr. Fordyce spins out Rousseau's eloquence;
and in most sentimental rant, details his opinions respecting the
female character, and the behaviour which woman ought to assume to
render her lovely.
He shall speak for himself, for thus he makes Nature address man.
"Behold these smiling innocents, whom I have graced with my fairest
gifts, and committed to your protection; behold them with love and
respect; treat them with tenderness and honour. They are timid and
want to be defended. They are frail; oh do not take advantage of
their weakness! Let their fears and blushes endear them. Let their
confidence in you never be abused. But is it possible, that any of
you can be such barbarians, so supremely wicked, as to abuse it?
Can you find in your hearts[5] to despoil the gentle, trusting
creatures of their treasure, or do anything to strip them of their
native robe of virtue? Curst be the impious hand that would dare to
violate the unblemished form of chastity! Thou wretch! thou ruffian
! forbear; nor venture to provoke Heaven's fiercest vengeance." I
know not any comment that can be made seriously on this curious
passage, and I could produce many similar ones; and some, so very
sentimental, that I have heard rational men use the word indecent,
when they mentioned them with disgust.
Throughout there is a display of cold artificial feelings, and that
parade of sensibility which boys and girls should be taught to
despise as the sure mark of a little vain mind. Florid appeals are
made to Heaven, and to the beauteous innocents, the fairest images
of Heaven here below, whilst sober sense is left far behind. This
is not the language of the heart, nor will it ever reach it, though
the ear may be tickled.
I shall be told, perhaps, that the public have been pleased with
these volumes. True--and Hervey's Meditations are :_ read, though
he equally sinned against sense and taste.
I particularly object to the love-like phrases of pumped up
passion, which are everywhere interspersed. If women be ever
allowed to walk without leading-strings, why must they be cajoled
into virtue by artful flattery and sexual compliments? Speak to
them the language of truth and soberness, and away with the lullaby
strains of condescending endearment ! Let them be taught to respect
themselves as rational creatures, and not led to have a passion for
their own insipid persons. It moves my gall to hear a preacher
descanting on dress and needlework; and still more, to hear him
address the British fair, the fairest of the fair, as if they had
only feelings.
Even recommending piety he uses the following argument. "Never,
perhaps, does a fine woman strike more deeply, than when, composed
into pious recollection, and possessed with the noblest
considerations, she assumes, without knowing it, superior dignity
and new graces; so that the beauties of holiness seem to radiate
about her, and the bystanders are almost reduced to fancy her
already worshipping amongst her kindred angels!" Why are women to
be thus bred up with a desire\of conquest? the very word, used in
this sense, gives me a sickly qualm! Do religion and virtue offer
no stronger motives, no brighter reward ? Must they always be
debased by being made to consider the sex of their companions? Must
they be taught always to be pleasing ? And when levelling their
small artillery at the heart of man, is it necessary to tell them
that a little sense is sufficient to render their attention
incredibly soothing? "As a small degree of knowledge entertains in
a woman, so from a woman, though for a different reason, a small
expression of kindness delights, particularly if she have beauty!"
I should have supposed for the same reason.
Why are girls to be told that they resemble angels; but to sink
them below women? Or, that a gentle innocent female is an object
that comes nearer to the idea which we have formed of angels than
any other. Yet they are told, at the same time, that they are only
like angels when they are young and beautiful; consequently, it is
their persons, not their virtues, that procure them this homage.
Idle empty words ! What can such delusive flattery lead to, but
vanity and folly? The lover, it is true, has a poetical licence to
exalt his mistress; his reason is the bubble of his passion, and he
does not utter a falsehood when he borrows the language of
adoration. His imagination may raise the idol of his heart,
unblamed, above humanity; and happy would it be for women, if they
were only flattered by the men who loved them; I mean, who love the
individual, not the sex; but should a grave preacher interlard his
discourses with such fooleries?
In sermons or novels, however, voluptuousness is always true to its
text. Men are allowed by moralists to cultivate, as Nature directs,
different qualities, and assume the different characters, that the
same passions, modified almost to infinity, give to each
individual. A virtuous man may have a choleric or a sanguine
constitution, be gay or grave, unreproved; be firm till he is
almost overbearing, or, weakly submissive, have no will or opinion
of his own; but all women are to be levelled, by meekness and
docility, into one character of yielding softness and gentle
compliance.
I will use the preacher's own words. "Let it be observed, that in
your sex manly exercises are never graceful; that in them a tone
and figure, as well as an air and deportment, of the masculine
kind, are always forbidding; and that men of sensibility desire in
every woman soft features, and a flowing voice, a form, not robust,
and demeanour delicate and gentle."
Is not the following portrait--the portrait of a house slave? "I am
astonished at the folly of many women, who are still reproaching
their husbands for leaving them alone, for preferring this or that
company to theirs, for treating them with this and the other mark
of disregard or indifference; when, to speak the truth, they have
themselves in a great measure to blame. Not that I would justify
the men in anything wrong on their part. But had you behaved to
them with more respectful observance, and a more equal tenderness;
studying their humours, overlooking their mistakes, submitting to
their opinions in matters indifferent, passing by little instances
of unevenness, caprice, or passion, giving soft answers to hasty
words, complaining as seldom as possible, and making it your daily
care to relieve their anxieties and prevent their wishes, to
enliven the hour of dullness, and call up the ideas of felicity:
had you pursued this conduct, I doubt not but you would have
maintained and even increased their esteem, so far as to have
secured every degree of influence that could conduce to their
virtue, or your mutual satisfaction; and your house might at this
day have been the abode of domestic bliss " Such a woman ought to
be an angel--or she is an ass-- for I discern not a trace of the
human character, neither reason nor passion in this domestic
drudge, whose being is absorbed in that of a tyrant's.
Still Dr. Fordyce must have very little acquaintance with the human
heart, if he really supposed that such conduct would bring back
wandering love, instead of exciting contempt. No, beauty,
gentleness, etc., etc., may gain a heart; but esteem, the only
lasting affection, can alone be obtained by virtue supported by
reason. It is respect for the understanding that keeps alive
tenderness for the person.
As these volumes are so frequently put into the hands of young
people, I have taken more notice of them than, strictly speaking,
they deserve; but as they have contributed to vitiate the taste,
and enervate the understanding of many of my fellow-creatures, I
could not pass them silently over.
SECTION III
Such paternal solicitude pervades Dr. Gregory's Legacy to his
Daughters, that I enter on the task of criticism with affectionate
respect; but as this little volume has many attractions to
recommend it to the notice of the most respectable part of my sex,
I cannot silently pass over arguments that so speciously support
opinions which, I think, have had the most baneful effect on the
morals and manners of the female world.
His easy familiar style is particularly suited to the tenor of his
advice, and the melancholy tenderness which his respect for the
memory of a beloved wife, diffuses through the whole work, renders
it very interesting; yet there is a degree of concise elegance
conspicuous in many passages that disturbs this sympathy; and we
pop on the author, when we only expected to meet the--father.
Besides, having two objects in view, he seldom adhered steadily to
either; for wishing to make his daughters amiable, and fearing lest
unhappiness should only be the consequence, of instilling
sentiments that might draw them out of the track of common life
without enabling them to act with consonant independence and
dignity, he checks the natural flow of his thoughts, and neither
advises one thing nor the other.
In the preface he tells them a mournful truth, "that they will
hear, at least once in their lives, the genuine sentiments of a man
who has no interest in deceiving them."
Hapless woman! what can be expected from thee when the beings on
whom thou art said naturally to depend for reason and support, have
all an interest in deceiving thee! This is the root of the evil
that has shed a corroding mildew on all thy virtues; and blighting
in the bud thy opening faculties, has rendered thee the weak thing
thou art! It is this separate interest--this insidious state of
warfare, that undermines morality, and divides mankind!
If love have made some women wretched, how many more has the cold
unmeaning intercourse of gallantry rendered vain and useless ! yet
this heartless attention to the sex is reckoned so manly, so polite
that, till society is very differently organised, I fear, this
vestige of gothic manners will not be done away by a more
reasonable and affectionate mode of conduct. Besides, to strip it
of its imaginary dignity, I must observe, that in the most
uncivilised European states this lip-service prevails in a very
great degree, accompanied with extreme dissoluteness of morals. In
Portugal, the country that I particularly allude to, it takes place
of the most serious moral obligations! for a man is seldom
assassinated when in the company of a woman. The savage hand of
rapine is unnerved by this chivalrous spirit; and, if the stroke of
vengeance cannot be stayed, the lady is entreated to pardon the
rudeness and depart in peace, though sprinkled, perhaps, with her
husband's or brother's blood.
I shall pass over his strictures on religion, because I mean to
discuss that subject in a separate chapter.
The remarks relative to behaviour, though many of them very
sensible, I entirely disapprove of, because it appears to me to be
beginning, as it were, at the wrong end. A cultivated
understanding, and an affectionate heart, will never want starched
rules of decorum-- something more substantial than seemliness will
be the result; and, without understanding the behaviour here
recommended, would be rank affectation. Decorum, indeed, is the one
thing needful !--decorum is to supplant nature, and banish all
simplicity and variety of character out of the female world. Yet
what good end can all this superficial counsel produce ? It is,
however, much easier to point out this or that mode of behaviour,
than to set the reason to work; but, when the mind has been stored
with useful knowledge, and strengthened by being employed, the
regulation of the behaviour may safely be left to its guidance.
Why, for instance, should the following caution be given when art
of every kind must contaminate the mind; and why entangle the grand
motives of action, which reason and religion equally combine to
enforce, with pitiful worldly shifts and sleight-of-hand tricks to
gain the applause of gaping tasteless fools? "Be even cautious in
displaying your good sense.[6] It will be thought you assume a
superiority over the rest of the company. But if you happen to have
any learning, keep it a profound secret, especially from the men,
who generally look with a jealous and malignant eye on a woman of
great parts, and a cultivated understanding." If men of real merit,
as he afterwards observes, be superior to this meanness, where is
the necessity that the behaviour of the whole sex should be
modulated to please fools, or men, who having little claim to
respect as individuals, choose to keep close in their phalanx. Men,
indeed, who insist on their common superiority, having only this
sexual superiority, are certainly very excusable.
There would be no end to rules for behaviour, if it be proper
always to adopt the tone of the company; for thus, for ever varying
the key, a flat would often pass for a natural note.
Surely it would have been wiser to have advised women to improve
themselves till they rose above the fumes of vanity; and then to
let the public opinion come round--for where are rules of
accommodation to stop? The narrow path of truth and virtue inclines
neither to the right nor left--it is a straightforward business,
and they who are earnestly pursuing their road, may bound over many
decorous prejudices, without leaving modesty behind. Make the heart
clean, and give the head employment, and I will venture to predict
that there will be nothing offensive in the behaviour.
The air of fashion, which many young people are so eager to attain,
always strikes me like the studied attitudes of some modern
pictures, copied with tasteless servility after the antiques; the
soul is left out, and none of the parts are tied together by what
may properly be termed character. This varnish of fashion, which
seldom sticks very close to sense, may dazzle the weak; but leave
nature to itself, and it will seldom disgust the wise. Besides,
when a woman has sufficient sense not to pretend to anything which
she does not understand in some degree, there is no need of
determining to hide her talents under a bushel. Let things take
their natural course, and all will be well.
It is this system of dissimulation, throughout the volume, that I
despise. Women are always to seem to be this and that--yet virtue
might apostrophise them, in the words of Hamlet--Seems! I know not
seems! Have that within passeth show!
Still the same tone occurs; for in another place, after
recommending, without sufficiently discriminating delicacy, he
adds,-- "The men will complain of your reserve. They will assure
you that a franker behaviour would make you more amiable. But,
trust me, they are not sincere when they tell you so. I acknowledge
that on some occasions it might render you more agreeable as
companions, but it would make you less amiable as women: an
important distinction, which many of your sex are not aware of."
This desire of being always women, is the very consciousness that
degrades the sex. Excepting with a lover, I must repeat with
emphasis, a former observation,--it would be well if they were only
agreeable or rational companions. But in this respect his advice is
even inconsistent with a passage which I mean to quote with the
most marked approbation.
"The sentiment, that a woman may allow all innocent freedoms,
provided her virtue is secure, is both grossly indelicate and
dangerous, and has proved fatal to many of your sex." With this
opinion I perfectly coincide. A man, or a woman, of any feeling,
must always wish to convince a beloved object that it is the
caresses of the individual, not the sex, that are received and
returned with pleasure; and, that the heart, rather than the
senses, is moved. Without this natural delicacy, love becomes a
selfish personal gratification that soon degrades the character.
I carry this sentiment still further. Affection, when love is out
of the question, authorises many personal endearments, that
naturally flowing from an innocent heart, give life to the
behaviour; but the personal intercourse of appetite, gallantry, or
vanity, is despicable. When a man squeezes the hand of a pretty
woman, handing her to a carriage, whom he has never seen before,
she will consider such an impertinent freedom in the light of an
insult, if she have any true delicacy, instead of being flattered
by this unmeaning homage to beauty. These are the privileges of
friendship, or the momentary homage which the heart pays to virtue,
when it flashes suddenly on the notice--mere animal spirits have no
claim to the kindnesses of affection.
Wishing to feed the affections with what is now the food of vanity,
I would fain persuade my sex to act from simpler principles. Let
them merit love, and they will obtain it, though they may never be
told that--"The power of a fine woman over the hearts of men, of
men of the finest parts, is even beyond what she conceives."
I have already noticed the narrow cautions with respect to
duplicity, female softness, delicacy of constitution; for these are
the changes which he rings round without ceasing--in a more
decorous manner, it is true, than Rousseau; but it all comes home
to the same point, and whoever is at the trouble to analyse these
sentiments, will find the first principles not quite so delicate as
the superstructure.
The subject of amusements is treated in too cursory a manner; but
with the same spirit.
When I treat of friendship, love, and marriage, it will be found
that we materially differ in opinion; I shall not then forestall
what I have to observe on these important subjects; but confine my
remarks to the general tenor of them, to that cautious family
prudence, to those confined views of partial unenlightened
affection, which exclude pleasure and improvement, by vainly
wishing to ward off sorrow and error, and by thus guarding the
heart and mind, destroy also all their energy. It is far better to
be often deceived than never to trust; to be disappointed in love
than never to love; to lose a husband's fondness than forfeit his
esteem.
Happy would it be for the world, and for individuals, of course, if
all this unavailing solicitude to attain worldly happiness, on a
confined plan, were turned into an anxious desire to improve the
understanding. "Wisdom is the principal thing: Therefore get
wisdom; and with all thy gettings get understanding." "How long, ye
simple ones, will ye love simplicity, and hate knowledge?" saith
Wisdom to the daughters of men.
SECTION IV
I do not mean to allude to all the writers who have written on the
subject of female manners--it would, in fact, be only beating over
the old ground, for they have, in general, written in the same
strain; but attacking the boasted prerogative of man--the
prerogative that may emphatically be called the iron sceptre of
tyranny, the original sin of tyrants, I declare against all power
built on prejudices, however hoary.
If the submission demanded be founded on justice--there is no
appealing to a higher power--for God is justice itself. Let us
then, as children of the same parent, if not bastardised by being
the younger born, reason together, and learn to submit to the
authority of Reason--when her voice is distinctly heard. But, if it
proved, that this throne of prerogative only rests on a chaotic
mass of prejudices, that have no inherent principle of order to
keep them together, or on an elephant, tortoise, or even the mighty
shoulders of a son of the earth, they may escape, who dare to brave
the consequence, without any breach of duty, without sinning
against the order of things.
Whilst reason raises man above the brutal herd, and death is big
with promises, they alone are subject to blind authority who have
no reliance on their own strength. They are free --who will be
free! --[7]
The being who can govern itself has nothing to fear in life; but if
anything be dearer than its own respect, the price must be paid to
the last farthing. Virtue, like everything valuable, must be loved
for herself alone; or she will not take up her abode with us. She
will not impart that peace, " which passeth understanding," when
she is merely made the stilts of reputation; and respected, with
pharisaical exactness, because "honesty is the best policy."
That the plan of life which enables us to carry some knowledge and
virtue into another world, is the one best calculated to ensure
content in this, cannot be denied; yet few people act according to
this principle, though it be universally allowed that it admits not
of dispute. Present pleasure, or present power, carry before it
these sober convictions; and it is for the day, not for life, that
man bargains with happiness. How few!--how very few! have
sufficient foresight, or resolution, to endure a small evil at the
moment, to avoid a greater hereafter.
Woman in particular, whose virtue[8] is built on mutable
prejudices,
seldom attains to this greatness of mind; so that, becoming the
slave of her own feelings, she is easily subjugated by those of
others. Thus degraded, her reason, her misty reason ! is employed
rather to burnish than to snap her chains.
Indignantly have I heard women argue in the same track as men, and
adopt the sentiments that brutalise them, with all the pertinacity
of ignorance.
I must illustrate my assertion by a few examples. Mrs. Piozzi, who
often repeated by rote, what she did not understand, comes forward
with Johnsonian periods.
"Seek not for happiness in singularity; and dread a refinement of
wisdom as-a deviation into folly." Thus she dogmatically addresses
a new married man; and to elucidate this pompous exordium, she
adds, " I said that the person of your lady would not grow more
pleasing to you, but pray let her never suspect that it grows less
so: that a woman will pardon an affront to her understanding much
sooner than one to her person, is well known; nor will any of us
contradict the assertion. All our attainments, all our arts, are
employed to gain and keep the heart of man; and what mortification
can exceed the disappointment, if the end be not obtained ? There
is no reproof however pointed, no punishment however severe, that
a woman of spirit will not prefer to neglect; and if she can endure
it without complaint, it only proves that she means to make herself
amends by the attention of others for the slights of her husband !"
These are truly masculine sentiments. "All our arts are employed to
gain and keep the heart of man:"--and what is the inference?--if
her person, and was there ever a person, though formed with
Medicean symmetry, that was not slighted ? be neglected, she will
make herself amends by endeavouring to please other men. Noble
morality! But thus is the understanding of the whole sex affronted,
and their virtue deprived of the common basis of virtue. A woman
must know, that her person cannot be as pleasing to her husband as
it was to her lover, and if she be offended with him for being a
human creature, she may as well whine about the loss of his heart
as about any other foolish thing. And this very want of discernment
or unreasonable anger, proves that he could not change his fondness
for her person into affection for her virtues or respect for her
understanding.
Whilst women avow, and act up to such opinions, their
understandings, at least, deserve the contempt and obloquy that
men, who never insult their persons, have pointedly levelled at the
female mind. And it is the sentiments of these polite men, who do
not wish to be encumbered with mind, that vain women thoughtlessly
adopt. Yet they should know, that insulted reason alone can spread
that sacred reserve about the person, which renders human
affections, for human affections have always some base alloy, as
permanent as is consistent with the grand end of existence--the
attainment of virtue.
The Baroness de Stael speaks the same language as the lady just
cited, with more enthusiasm. Her eulogium on Rousseau
was accidentally put into my hands and her sentiments, the
sentiments of too many of my sex, may serve as the text for a few
comments. "Though Rousseau," she observes, "has endeavoured to
prevent women from interfering in public affairs, and acting a
brilliant part in the theatre of politics; yet in speaking of them,
how much has he done it to their satisfaction ! If he wished to
deprive them of some rights foreign to their sex, how has he for
ever restored to them all those to which it has a claim! And in
attempting to diminish their influence over the deliberations of
men, how sacredly has he established the empire they have over
their happiness! In aiding them to descend from an usurped throne,
he has firmly seated them upon that to which they were destined by
nature; and though he be full of indignation against them when they
endeavour to resemble men, yet when they come before him with all
the charms, weaknesses, virtues, and errors of their sex, his
respect for their persons amounts almost to adoration." True! For
never was there a sensualist who paid more fervent adoration at the
shrine of beauty. So devout, indeed, was his respect for the
person, that excepting the virtue of chastity, for obvious reasons,
he only wished to see it embellished by charms, weaknesses, and
errors. He was afraid lest the austerity of reason should disturb
the soft playfulness of love. The master wished to have a
meretricious slave to fondle, entirely dependent on his reason and
bounty; he did not want a companion, whom he should be compelled to
esteem, or a friend to whom he could confine the care of his
children's education, should death deprive them of their father,
before he had fulfilled the sacred task. He denies woman reason,
shuts her out from knowledge, and turns her aside from truth; yet
his pardon is granted, because " he admits the passion of love." It
would require some ingenuity to show why women were to be under
such an obligation to him for thus admitting love; when it is clear
that he admits it only for the relaxation of men, and to perpetuate
the species; but he talked with passion, and that powerful spell
worked on the sensibility of a young encomiast. " What signifies
it," pursues this rhapsodist, " to women, that his reason disputes
with them the empire, when his heart is devotedly theirs," It is
not empire,--but equality, that they should contend for. Yet, if
they only wished to lengthen out their sway, they should not
entirely trust to their persons, for though beauty may gain a
heart, it cannot keep it, even while the beauty is in full bloom,
unless the mind lend, at least, some graces.
When women are once sufficiently enlightened to discover their real
interest, on a grand scale, they will, I am persuaded, be very
ready to resign all the prerogatives of love, that are not mutual,
speaking of them as lasting prerogatives, for the calm satisfaction
of friendship, and the tender confidence of habitual esteem. Before
marriage they will not assume any insolent airs, or afterwards
abjectly submit; but endeavouring to act like reasonable creatures,
in both situations, they will not be tumbled from a throne to a
stool.
Madame Genlis has written several entertaining books for children;
and her Letters on Education afford many useful hints, that
sensible parents will certainly avail themselves of; but her views
are narrow, and her prejudices as unreasonable as strong.
I shall pass over her vehement argument in favour of the eternity
of future punishments, because I blush to think that a human being
should ever argue vehemently in such a cause, and only make a few
remarks on her absurd manner of making the parental authority
supplant reason. For everywhere does she inculcate not only blind
submission to parents, but to the opinion of the world.[9]
She tells a story of a young man engaged by his father's express
desire to a girl of fortune. Before the marriage could take place
she is deprived of her fortune, and thrown friendless on the world.
The father practises the most infamous arts to separate his son
from her, and when the son detects his villainy, and, following the
dictates of honour, marries the girl, nothing but misery ensues,
because, forsooth! he married without his father's consent. On what
ground can religion or morality rest when justice is thus set at
defiance? With the same view she represents an accomplished young
woman, as ready to marry anybody that her mamma pleased to
recommend; and, as actually marrying the young man of her own
choice, without feeling any emotions of passion, because that a
well-educated girl had not time to be in love. Is it possible to
have much respect for a system of education that thus insults
reason and nature?
Many similar opinions occur in her writings, mixed with sentiments
that do honour to her head and heart. Yet so much superstition is
mixed with her religion, and so much worldly wisdom with her
morality, that I should not let a young person read her works,
unless I could afterwards converse on the subjects, and point out
the contradictions.
Mrs. Chapone's letters are written with such good sense and
unaffected humility, and contain so many useful observations, that
I only mention them to pay the worthy writer this tribute of
respect. I cannot, it is true, always coincide in opinion with her,
but I always respect her.
The very word respect brings Mrs. Macaulay to my remembrance. The
woman of the greatest abilities, undoubtedly, that this country has
ever produced; and yet this woman has been suffered to die without
sufficient respect being paid to her memory.
Posterity, however, will be more just, and remember that Catherine
Macaulay was an example of intellectual acquirements supposed to be
incompatible with the weakness of her sex. In her style of writing,
indeed, no sex appears, for it is like the sense it conveys, strong
and clear.
I will not call hers a masculine understanding, because I admit not
of such an arrogant assumption of reason; but I contend that it was
a sound one, and that her judgment, the matured fruit of profound
thinking, was a proof that a woman can acquire judgment in the full
extent of the word. Possessing more penetration than sagacity, more
understanding than fancy, she writes with sober energy and
argumentative closeness; yet sympathy and benevolence give an
interest to her sentiments, and that vital heat to arguments, which
forces the reader to weigh them.[10]
When I first thought of writing these strictures I anticipated Mrs.
Macaulay's approbation, with a little of that sanguine ardour which
it has been the business of my life to depress, but soon heard with
the sickly qualm-of disappointed hope, and the still seriousness of
regret--that she was no more!
SECTION V
Taking a view of the different works which have been written on
education, Lord Chesterfield's Letters must not be silently passed
over. Not that I mean to analyse his unmanly, immoral system, or
even to cull any of the useful, shrewd remarks which occur in his
epistles. No, I only mean to make a few reflections on the avowed
tendency of them, the art of acquiring an early knowledge of the
world--an art, I will venture to assert, that preys secretly, like
the worm in the bud, on the expanding powers, and turns to poison
the generous juices which should mount with vigour in the youthful
frame, inspiring warm affections and great resolves.[11]
For everything, saith the wise man, there is a season; and who
would look for the fruits of autumn during the genial months of
spring? But this is mere declamation, and I mean to reason with
those worldly-wise instructors, who, instead of cultivating the
judgment, instil prejudices, and render hard the heart that gradual
experience would only have cooled. An early acquaintance with human
infirmities; or, what is termed knowledge of the world, is the
surest way, in my opinion, to contract the heart and damp the
natural youthful ardour which produces not only great talents, but
great virtues. For the vain attempt to bring forth the fruit of
experience, before the sapling has out thrown its leaves, only
exhausts its strength, and prevents its assuming a natural form;
just as the form and strength of subsiding metals are injured when
the attraction of cohesion is disturbed.
Tell me, ye who have studied the human mind, is it not a strange
way to fix principles by showing young people that they are seldom
stable? And how can they be fortified by habits when they are
proved to be fallacious by example? Why is the ardour of youth thus
to be damped, and the luxuriancy of fancy cut to the quick? This
dry caution may, it is true, guard a character from worldly
mischances, but will infallibly preclude excellence in either
virtue or knowledge.[12] The stumbling-block thrown across every
path by suspicion will prevent any vigorous exertions of genius or
benevolence, and life will be stripped of its most alluring charm
long before its calm evening, when man would retire to
contemplation for comfort and support.
A young man who has been bred up with domestic friends, and led to
store his mind with as much speculative knowledge as can be
acquired by reading and the natural reflections which youthful
ebullitions of animal spirits and instinctive feelings inspire,
will enter the world with warm and erroneous expectations. But this
appears to be the course of Nature. and in morals, as well as in
works of taste, we should be observant of her sacred indications,
and not presume to lead when we ought obsequiously to follow.
In the world few act from principle; present feelings and early
habits are the grand springs; but how would the former be deadened,
and the latter rendered iron-corroding fetters, if the world were
shown to young people just as it is, when no knowledge of mankind
or their own hearts, slowly obtained by experience, rendered them
forbearing? Their fellow-creatures would not then be viewed as
frail beings like themselves, condemned to struggle with human
infirmities, and sometimes displaying the light, and sometimes the
dark, side of their character; extorting alternate feelings of love
and disgust, but guarded against as beasts of prey, till every
enlarged social feeling--in a word, humanity--was eradicated.
In life, on the contrary, as we gradually discover the
imperfections of our nature, we discover virtues, and various
circumstances attach us to our fellow-creatures, when we mix with
them and view the same objects, that are never thought of in
acquiring a hasty unnatural knowledge of the world. We see a folly
swell into a vice, by almost imperceptible degrees, and pity while
we blame; but if the hideous monster burst suddenly on our sight,
fear and disgust, rendering us more severe than man ought to be,
might lead us with blind zeal to usurp the character of
omnipotence, and denounce damnation on our fellow-mortals,
forgetting that we cannot read the heart, and that we have seeds of
the same vices lurking in our own.
I have already remarked that we expect more from instruction than
mere instruction can produce; for instead of preparing young people
to encounter the evils of life with dignity, and to acquire wisdom
and virtue by the exercise of their own [13] faculties, precepts
are heaped upon precepts, and blind obedience required when
conviction should be brought home to reason.
Suppose, for instance, that a young person, in the first ardour of
friendship, deifies the beloved object, what harm can arise from
this mistaken enthusiastic attachment? Perhaps it is necessary for
virtue first to appear in a human form to impress youthful hearts;
the ideal model, which a more matured and exalted mind looks up to,
and shapes for itself, would elude their sight. "He who loves not
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God?" asked the
wisest of men.
It is natural for youth to adorn the first object of its affection
with every good quality, and the emulation produced by ignorance,
or, to speak with more propriety, by inexperience, brings forward
the mind capable of forming such an affection, and when, in the
lapse of time, perfection is found not to be within the reach of
mortals, virtue, abstractedly, is thought beautiful, and wisdom
sublime. Admiration then gives place to friendship, properly so
called, because it is cemented by esteem; and the being walks alone
only dependent on Heaven for that emulous panting after perfection
which ever glows in a noble mind. But this knowledge a man must
gain by the exertion of his own faculties; and this is surely the
blessed fruit of disappointed hope! for He who delighteth to
diffuse happiness and show mercy to the weak creatures, who are
learning to know Him, never implanted a good propensity to be a
tormenting ignis fatuus.
Our trees are now allowed to spread with wild luxuriance, nor do we
expect by force to combine the majestic marks of time with youthful
graces; but wait patiently till they have struck deep their root,
and braved many a storm. Is the mind then, which, in proportion to
its dignity, advances more slowly towards perfection, to be treated
with less respect? To argue from analogy, everything around us is
in a progressive state; and when an unwelcome knowledge of life
produces almost a satiety of life, and we discover by the natural
course of things that all that is done under the sun is vanity, we
are drawing near the awful close of the drama. The days of activity
and hope are over, and the opportunities which the first stage of
existence has afforded of advancing in the scale of intelligence,
must soon be summed up. A knowledge at this period of the futility
of life, or earlier, if obtained by experience, is very useful,
because it is natural; but when a frail being is shown the follies
and vices of man, that he may be taught prudently to guard against
the common casualties of life by sacrificing his heart--surely it
is not speaking harshly to call it the wisdom of this world,
contrasted with the nobler fruit of piety and experience.
I will venture a paradox, and deliver my opinion without reserve;
if men were only born to form a circle of life and death, it would
be wise to take every step that foresight could suggest to render
life happy. Moderation in every pursuit would then be supreme
wisdom; and the prudent voluptuary might enjoy a degree of content,
though he neither cultivated his understanding nor kept his heart
pure. Prudence, supposing we were mortal, would be true wisdom, or,
to be more explicit, would procure the greatest portion of
happiness, considering the whole of life, but knowledge beyond the
conveniences of life would be a curse.
Why should we injure our health by close study? The exalted
pleasure which intellectual pursuits afford would scarcely be
equivalent to the hours of languor that follow; especially, if it
be necessary to take into the reckoning the doubts and
disappointments that cloud our researches. Vanity and vexation
close every inquiry: for the cause which we particularly wished to
discover flies like the horizon before us as we advance. The
ignorant, on the contrary, resemble children, and suppose, that if
they could walk straight forward they should at last arrive where
the earth and clouds meet. Yet, disappointed as we are in our
researches, the mind gains strength by the exercise, sufficient,
perhaps, to comprehend the answers which, in another step of
existence, it may receive to the anxious questions it asked, when
the understanding with feeble wing was fluttering round the visible
effects to dive into the hidden cause.
The passions also, the winds of life, would be useless, if not
injurious, did the substance which composes our thinking being,
after we have thought in vain, only become the support of vegetable
life, and invigorate a cabbage, or blush in a rose. The appetites
would answer every earthly purpose, and produce more moderate and
permanent happiness. But the powers of the soul that are of little
use here, and, probably, disturb our animal enjoyments, even while
conscious dignity makes us glory in possessing them, prove that
life is merely an education, a state of infancy, to which the only
hopes worth cherishing should not be sacrificed. I mean, therefore,
to infer, that we ought to have a precise idea of what we wish to
attain by education, for the immortality of the soul is
contradicted by the actions of many people who firmly profess the
belief.
If you mean to secure ease and prosperity on earth as the first
consideration, and leave futurity to provide for itself; you act
prudently in giving your child an early insight into the weaknesses
of his nature. You may not, it is true, make an Inkle of him; but
do not imagine that he will stick to more than the letter of the
law, who has very early imbibed a mean opinion of human nature; nor
will he think it necessary to rise much above the common standard.
He may avoid gross vices, because honesty is the best policy; but
he will never aim at attaining great virtues. The example of
writers and artists will illustrate this remark.
I must therefore venture to doubt whether what has been thought an
axiom in morals may not have been a dogmatical assertion made by
men who have coolly seen mankind through the medium of books, and
say, in direct contradiction to them, that the regulation of the
passions is not, always, wisdom. on the contrary, it should seem,
that one reason why men have superior judgment, and more fortitude
than women, is undoubtedly this, that they give a freer scope to
the grand passions, and by more frequently going astray enlarge
their minds. If then by the exercise of their own reason they fix
on some stable principle, they have probably to thank the force of
their passions, nourished by false views of life, and permitted to
overleap the boundary that secures content. But if, in the dawn of
life, we could soberly survey the scenes before as in perspective,
and see everything in its true colours, how could the passions gain
sufficient strength to unfold the faculties?
Let me now as from an eminence survey the world stripped of all its
false delusive charms. The clear atmosphere enables me to see each
object in its true point of view, while my heart is still. I am
calm as the prospect in a morning when the mists, slowly
dispersing, silently unveil the beauties of nature, refreshed by
rest.
In what light will the world now appear? I rub my eyes, and think,
perchance, that I am just awaking from a lively dream.
I see the sons and daughters of men pursuing shadows, and anxiously
wasting their powers to feed passions which have no adequate
object. If the very excess of these blind impulses, pampered by
that lying, yet constantly trusted guide, the imagination, did not,
by preparing them for some other state, render short-sighted
mortals wiser without their own concurrence, or, what comes to the
same thing, when pursuing some imaginary present good.
After viewing objects in this light, it would not be fanciful to
imagine that this world was a stage on which a pantomime is daily
performed for the amusement of superior beings. How would they be
diverted to see the ambitious man consuming himself by running
after a phantom, and "pursuing the bubble fame in the cannon's
mouth" that was to blow him to nothing; for when consciousness is
lost, it matters not whether we mount in a whirlwind, or descend in
rain. And should they compassionately invigorate his sight, and
show him the thorny path which led to eminence, that, like a
quicksand, sinks as he ascends, disappointing his hopes when almost
within his grasp, would he not leave to others the honour of
amusing them, and labour to secure the present moment, though, from
the constitution of his nature, he would not find it very easy to
catch the flying stream? Such slaves are we to hope and fear!
But vain as the ambitious man's pursuits would be, he is often
striving for something more substantial than fame. That, indeed,
would be the veriest meteor, the wildest fire that could lure a man
to ruin. What! renounce the most trifling gratification to be
applauded when he should be no more! Wherefore this struggle,
whether man be mortal or immortal, if that noble passion did not
really raise the being above his fellows?
And love! What diverting scenes would it produce; pantaloon's
tricks must yield to more egregious folly. To see a mortal adorn an
object with imaginary charms, and then fall down and worship the
idol which he had himself set up--how ridiculous But what serious
consequences ensue to rob man of that portion of happiness which
the Deity by calling him into existence has (or on what can His
attributes rest?) indubitably promised. Would not all the purposes
of life have been much better fulfilled if he had only felt what
has been termed physical love? And would not the sight of the
object, not seen through the medium of the imagination, soon reduce
the passion to an appetite if reflection, the noble distinction of
man, did not give it force, and make it an instrument to raise him
above this earthly dross, by teaching him to love the centre of all
perfection, whose wisdom appears clearer and clearer in the works
of nature in proportion as reason is illuminated and exalted by
contemplation, and by acquiring that love of order which the
struggles of passion produce?
The habit of reflection, and the knowledge attained by fostering
any passion, might be shown to be equally useful, though the object
be proved equally fallacious; for they would all appear in the same
light if they were not magnified by the governing passion implanted
in us by the Author of all good to call forth and strengthen the
faculties of each individual, and enable it to attain all the
experience that an infant can obtain who does certain things, it
cannot tell why.
I descend from my height, and mixing with my fellow-creatures feel
myself hurried along the common stream. Ambition, love, hope, and
fear, exert their wonted power, though we be convinced by reason
that their present and most attractive promises are only lying
dreams; but had the cold hand of circumspection damped each
generous feeling before it had left any permanent character, or
fixed some habit, what could be expected but selfish prudence and
reason just rising above instinct? Who that has read Dean Swift's
disgusting description of the Yahoos, and insipid one of Houyhnhnm
with a philosophical eye, can avoid seeing the futility of
degrading the passions, or making man rest in contentment?
The youth should act, for had he the experience of a grey head he
would be fitter for death than life, though his virtues, rather
residing in his head than his heart, could produce nothing great,
and his understanding, prepared for this world, would not, by its
noble flights, prove that it had a title to a better.
Besides, it is not possible to give a young person a just view of
life; he must have struggled with his own passions before he can
estimate the force of the temptation which betrayed his brother
into vice. Those who are entering life, and those who are
departing, see the world from such very different points of view
that they can seldom think alike, unless the unfledged reason of
the former never attempted a solitary flight.
When we hear of some daring crime, it comes full on us in the
deepest shade of turpitude, and raises indignation; but the eye
that gradually saw the darkness thicken must observe it with more
compassionate forbearance. The world cannot be seen by an unmoved
spectator; we must mix in the throng, and feel as men feel, before
we can judge of their feelings. If we mean, in short, to live in
the world, to grow wiser and better, and not merely to enjoy the
good things of life, we must attain a knowledge of others at the
same time that we become acquainted with ourselves. Knowledge
acquired any other way only hardens the heart, and perplexes the
understanding.
I may be told that the knowledge thus acquired is sometimes
purchased at too dear a rate. I can only answer that I very much
doubt whether any knowledge can be attained without labour and
sorrow; and those who wish to spare their children both should not
complain if they are neither wise nor virtuous. They only aimed at
making them prudent, and prudence early in life is but the cautious
craft of ignorant self-love.
I have observed that young people, to whose education particular
attention has been paid, have in general been very superficial and
conceited, and far from pleasing in any respect, because they had
neither the unsuspecting warmth of youth, nor the cool depth of
age. I cannot help imputing this unnatural appearance principally
to that hasty premature instruction which leads them presumptuously
to repeat all the crude notions they have taken upon trust, so that
the careful education which they received, makes them all their
lives the slaves of prejudices.
Mental as well as bodily exertion is at first irksome; so much so,
that the many would fain let others both work and think for them.
An observation which I have often made will illustrate my meaning.
When in a circle of strangers or acquaintances a person of moderate
abilities asserts an opinion with heat, I will venture to affirm--
for I have traced this fact home' --very often that it is a
prejudice. These echoes have a high respect for the understanding
of some relation or friend, and without fully comprehending the
opinions which they are so eager to retail, they maintain them with
a degree of obstinacy that would surprise even the person who
concocted them.
I know that a kind of fashion now prevails of respecting
prejudices; and when anyone dares to face them, though actuated by
humanity and armed by reason, he is superciliously asked whether
his ancestors were fools. No, I should reply. opinions at first of
every description were all probably considered, and therefore were
founded on some reason; yet not unfrequently, of course, it was
rather a local expedient than a fundamental principle that would be
reasonable at all times. But moss-covered opinions assume the
disproportioned form of prejudices when they are indolently adopted
only because age has given them a venerable aspect, though the
reason on which they were built ceases to be a reason, or cannot be
traced. Why are we to love prejudices merely because they are
prejudices?[14] A prejudice is a fond obstinate persuasion for
which we can give no reason; for the moment a reason can be given
for an opinion, it ceases to be a prejudice, though it may be an
error in judgment; and are we then advised to cherish opinions only
to set reason at defiance? This mode of arguing, if arguing it may
be called, reminds me of what is vulgarly termed a woman's reason;
for women sometimes declare that they love, or believe certain
things, because they love or believe them.
It is impossible to converse with people to any purpose who only
use affirmatives and negatives. Before you can bring them to a
point to start fairly from, you must go back to the simple
principles that were antecedent to the prejudices broached by
power; and it is ten to one but you are stopped by the
philosophical assertion that certain principles are as practically
false as they are abstractly true.[15] Nay, it may be inferred that
reason has whispered some doubts, for it generally happens that
people assert their opinions with the greatest heat when they begin
to waver; striving to drive out their own doubts by convincing
their opponent, they grow angry when those gnawing doubts are
thrown back to prey on themselves.
The fact is, that men expect from education, what education cannot
give. A sagacious parent or tutor may strengthen the body and
sharpen the instruments by which the child is to gather knowledge;
but the honey must be the reward of the individual's own industry.
It is almost as absurd to attempt to make a youth wise by the
experience of another, as to expect the body to grow strong by the
exercise which is only talked of, or seen.[16] Many of those
children whose conduct has been most narrowly watched, become the
weakest men, because their instructors only instil certain notions
into their minds, that have no other foundation than their
authority; and if they be loved or respected, the mind is cramped
in its exertions and wavering in its advances. The business of
education in this case, is only to conduct the shooting tendrils to
a proper pole; yet after laying precept upon precept, without
allowing a child to acquire judgment itself, parents expect them to
act in the same manner by this borrowed fallacious light, as if
they had illuminated it themselves; and be, when they enter life,
what their parents are at the close. They do not consider that the
tree, and even the human body, does not strengthen its fibres till
it has reached its full growth.
There appears to be something analogous in the mind. The senses and
the imagination give a form to the character, during childhood and
youth; and the understanding, as life advances, gives firmness to
the first fair purposes of sensibility, till virtue, arising rather
from the clear conviction of reason than the impulse of the heart,
morality is made to rest on a rock against which the storms of
passion vainly beat.
I hope I shall not be misunderstood when I say, that religion will
not have this condensing energy, unless it be founded on reason. If
it be merely the refuge of weakness or wild fanaticism, and not a
governing principle of conduct, drawn from self-knowledge, and a
rational opinion respecting the attributes of God, what can it be
expected to produce? The religion which consists in warming the
affections, and exalting the imagination, is only the poetical
part, and may afford the individual pleasure without rendering it
a more moral being. It may be a substitute for worldly pursuits;
yet narrow, instead of enlarging the heart: but virtue must be
loved as in itself sublime and excellent, and not for the
advantages it procures or the evils. it averts, if any great degree
of excellence be expected. Men will not become moral when they only
build airy castles in a future world to compensate for the
disappointments which they meet with in this; if they turn their
thoughts from relative duties to religious reveries.
Most prospects in life are marred by the shuffling worldly wisdom
of men, who, forgetting that they cannot serve God and mammon,
endeavour to blend contradictory things. If you wish to make your
son rich, pursue one course if you are only anxious to make him
virtuous, you must not imagine that you can bound from one road to
the other without losing your way.[17]
NOTES
[1] I have already inserted the passage, p.44.
[2] What nonsense!
[3] What is to the consequence, if the mother's and husband's
opinion should chance not to agree? An ignorant person cannot be
reasoned out of an error -- and when persuaded to give up one
prejudice for another the mind is unsettled. Indeed, the husband
may not have any religion to teach her, though in such a situation
she will be in great want of a support to her virtue, independent
of worldly considerations.
[4] Rousseau's Emilius.
[5] Can you? -- Can you? would be the most emphatical comment,
were it drawled out in a whining voice.
[6] Let women once acquire good sense -- and if it deserve the
name, it will teach them; or, of what use will it be? how to employ
it.
[7] "He is the free man, whom the truth makes free!" -- Cowper.
[8] I mean to use a word that comprehends more than chastity, the
sexual virtue.
[9] A person is not to act in this or that way, though convinced
they are right in so doing, because some equivocal circumstances
may lead the world to suspect that they acted from different
motives. This is sacrificing the substance for a shadow. Let people
by watch their own hearts, and act rightly, as far as they can
judge, and they may patiently wait till the opinion of the world
comes round. It is best to be directed by a simple motive, for
justice has too often been sacrificed to propriety -- another word
for convenience.
[10] Coinciding in opinion with Mrs. Macauly relative to many
branches of education, I refer to her valuable work, instead of
quoting her sentiments to support my own.
[11] That children ought to be constantly guarded against the vices
and follies of the world appears to me a very mistaken opinion; for
in the course of my experience, and my eyes have looked abroad, I
newer knew a youth educated in this manner, who had earlt imbibed
these chilling suspicions, and repeated by rote the hesitating if
of age, that did not prove a selfish character.
[12] I have already observed that an early knowledge of the world,
obtained in a natural way, by mixing in the world, has the same
effect, instancing officers and women.
[13] "I find that all is but lip-wisdom which want experience,"
says Sidney.
[14] Vide Mr. Burke.
[15] "Convince a man against his will,
He's of the same opinion still."
[16] 'One sees nothing when one is content to contemplate only: it
is necessary to act oneself to be able to see how others act." --
Rousseau.
[17] see an excellent essay on this subject by Mrs. Barbauld, in
Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose.
CHAPTER VI
THE EFFECT WHICH AN EARLY ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS
HAS UPON THE CHARACTER
Educated in the enervating style recommended by the writers on whom
I have been animadverting; and not having a chance, from their
subordinate state in society, to recover their lost ground, is it
surprising that women everywhere appear a defect in nature? Is it
surprising, when we consider what a determinate effect an early
association of ideas has on the character, that they neglect their
understandings, and turn all their attention to their persons?
The great advantages which naturally result from storing the mind
with knowledge, are obvious from the following considerations. The
association of our ideas is either habitual or instantaneous; and
the latter mode seems rather to depend on the original temperature
of the mind than on the will. When the ideas, and matters of fact,
are once taken in, they lie by for use, till some fortuitous
circumstance makes the information dart into the mind with
illustrative force, that has been received at very different
periods of our lives. Like the lightning's flash are many
recollections; one idea assimilating and explaining another, with
astonishing rapidity. I do not now allude to that quick perception
of truth, which is so intuitive that it baffles research, and makes
us at a loss to determine whether it is reminiscence or
ratiocination, lost sight of in its celerity, that opens the dark
cloud. Over those instantaneous associations we have little power;
for when the mind is once enlarged by excursive flights, or
profound reflection, the raw materials will, in some degree,
arrange themselves. The understanding, it is true, may keep us from
going out of drawing when we group our thoughts, or transcribe from
the imagination the warm sketches of fancy; but the animal spirits,
the individual character, give the colouring. Over this subtile
electric fluid,[1] how little power do we possess, and over it how
little power can reason obtain. These fine intractable spirits
appear to be the essence of genius, and beaming in its eagle eye,
produce in the most eminent degree the happy energy of associating
thoughts that surprise, delight, and instruct These are the glowing
minds that concentrate pictures for their fellow-creatures; forcing
them to view with interest the objects reflected from the
impassioned imagination, which they passed over in nature.
I must be allowed to explain myself. The generality of people
cannot see or feel poetically, they want fancy, and therefore fly
from solitude in search of sensible objects; but when an author
lends them his eyes they can see as he saw, and be amused by images
they could not select, though lying before them.
Education thus only supplies the man of genius with knowledge to
give variety and contrast to his associations; but there is an
habitual association of ideas, that grows "with our growth," which
has a great effect on the moral character of mankind, and by which
a turn is given to the mind that commonly remains throughout life.
So ductile is the understanding, and yet so stubborn, that the
associations which depend on adventitious circumstances, during the
period that the body takes to arrive at maturity, can seldom be
disentangled by reason. one idea calls up another, its old
associate, and memory, faithful to the first impressions,
particularly when the intellectual powers are not employed to cool
our sensations, retraces them with mechanical exactness.
This habitual slavery, to first impressions, has a more baneful
effect on the female than the male character, because business and
other dry employments of the understanding, tend to deaden the
feelings and break associations that do violence to reason. But
females, who are made women of when they are mere children, and
brought back to childhood when they ought to leave the go-cart for
ever, have not sufficient strength of mind to efface the
superinductions of art that have smothered nature.
Everything that they see or hear serves to fix impressions, call
forth emotions, and associate ideas, that give a sexual character
to the mind. False notions of beauty and delicacy stop the growth
of their limbs and produce a sickly soreness, rather than delicacy
of organs; and thus weakened by being employed in unfolding instead
of examining the first associations, forced on them by every
surrounding object, how can they attain the vigour necessary to
enable them to throw off their factitious character?--where find
strength to recur to reason and rise superior to a system of
oppression, that blasts the fair promises of spring? This cruel
association of ideas, which everything conspires to twist into all
their habits of thinking, or, to speak with more precision, of
feeling, receives new force when they begin to act a little for
themselves; for they then perceive that it is only through their
address to excite emotions in men, that pleasure and power are to
be obtained. Besides, the books professedly written for their
instruction, which make the first impression on their minds, all
inculcate the same opinions. Educated then in worse than Egyptian
bondage, it is unreasonable, as well as cruel, to upbraid them with
faults that can scarcely be avoided, unless a degree of native
vigour be supposed, that falls to the lot of very few amongst
mankind.
For instance, the severest sarcasms have been levelled against the
sex, and they have been ridiculed for repeating "a set of phrases
learnt by rote," when nothing could be more natural, considering
the education they receive, and that their "highest praise is to
obey, unargued"--the will of man. If they be not allowed to have
reason sufficient to govern their own conduct --why, all they learn
must be learned by rote! And when all their ingenuity is called
forth to adjust their dress, "a passion for a scarlet coat," is so
natural, that it never surprised me; and, allowing Pope's summary
of their character to be just, "that every woman is at heart a
rake," why should they be bitterly censured for seeking a congenial
mind, and preferring a rake to a man of sense?
Rakes know how to work on their sensibility, whilst the modest
merit of reasonable men has, of course, less effect on their
feelings, and they cannot reach the heart by the way of the
understanding, because they have few sentiments in common.
It seems a little absurd to expect women to be more reasonable than
men in their likings, and still to deny them the uncontrolled use
of reason. When do men fall in love with sense? When do they, with
their superior powers and advantages, turn from the person to the
mind? And how can they then expect women, who are only taught to
observe behaviour, and acquire manners rather than morals, to
despise what they have been all their lives labouring to attain?
Where are they suddenly to find judgment enough to weigh patiently
the sense of an awkward virtuous man, when his manners, of which
they are made critical judges, are rebuffing, and his conversation
cold and dull, because it does not consist of pretty repartees, or
well-turned compliments? In order to admire or esteem anything for
a continuance, we must, at least, have our curiosity excited by
knowing, in some degree, what we admire; for we are unable to
estimate the value of qualities and virtues above our
comprehension. Such a respect, when it is felt, may be very
sublime; and the confused consciousness of humility may render the
dependent creature an interesting object, in some points of view;
but human love must have grosser ingredients; and the person very
naturally will come in for its share--and, an ample share it mostly
has!
Love is, in a great degree, an arbitrary passion, and will reign,
like some other stalking mischiefs, by its own authority, without
deigning to reason; and it may also be easily distinguished from
esteem, the foundation of friendship, because it is o.'ten excited
by evanescent beauties and graces, though, to give an energy to the
sentiment, son deepen their impression and set the make the most
fair--the first good.
Common passions are excited by look for beauty and the simper of
women are captivated by easy manners; a gentleman-like man seldom
fails to please them, and their thirsty ears eagerly drink the
insinuating nothings of politeness, whilst they turn from the
unintelligible sounds of the charmer--reason, charm he never so
wisely. With respect to superficial accomplishments, the rake
certainly has the advantage; and of these females can form an
opinion, for it is their own ground. Rendered gay and giddy by the
whole tenor of their lives, the very aspect of wisdom, or the
severe graces of virtue, must have a lugubrious appearance to them;
and produce a kind of restraint from which they and love, sportive
child, naturally revolt. Without taste, excepting of the lighter
kind, for taste is the offspring of judgment, how can they discover
that true beauty and grace must arise from the play of the mind?
and how can they be expected to relish in a lover what they do not,
or very imperfectly, possess themselves? The sympathy that unites
hearts, and invites to confidence, in them is so very faint, that
it cannot take fire, and thus mount to passion. No, I repeat it,
the love cherished by such minds, must have grosser fuel!
The inference is obvious; till women are led to exercise their
understandings, they should not be satirised for their attachment
to rakes; or even for being rakes at heart, when it appears to be
the inevitable consequence of their education. They who live to
please--must find their enjoyments, their happiness, in pleasure!
It is a trite, yet true remark, that we never do anything well,
unless we love it for its own sake.
Supposing, however, for a moment, that women were, in some future
revolution of time, to become, what I sincerely wish them to be,
even love would acquire more serious dignity, and be purified in
its own fires; and virtue giving true delicacy to their affections,
they would turn with disgust from a rake. Reasoning then, as well
as feeling, the only province of woman, at present, they might
easily guard against exterior graces, and quickly learn to despise
the sensibility that had been ex- cited and hackneyed in the ways
of women, whose trade was vice; and allurements, wanton airs. They
would recollect that the flame, one must use appropriated
expressions, which they wished to light up, had been exhausted by
lust, and that the sated appetite, losing all relish for pure and
simple pleasures, could only be roused by licentious arts or
variety. What satisfaction could a woman of delicacy promise
herself in a union with such a man, when the very artlessness of
her affection might appear insipid? Thus does Dryden describe the
situation,
Where love is duty, on the female side,
On theirs mere sensual gust, and sought with surly pride.
But one grand truth women have yet to learn, though much it imports
them to act accordingly. In the choice of a husband, they should
not be led astray by the qualities of a lover--for a lover the
husband, even supposing him to be wise and virtuous, cannot long
remain.
Were women more rationally educated, could they take a more
comprehensive view of things, they would be contented to love but
once in their lives; and after marriage calmly let passion subside
into friendship--into that tender intimacy, which is the best
refuge from care; yet is built on such pure, still affections, that
idle jealousies would not be allowed to disturb the discharge of
the sober duties of life, or to engross the thoughts that ought to
be otherwise employed. This is a state in which many men live; but
few, very few, women. And the difference may easily be accounted
for, without recurring to a sexual character. Men, for whom we are
told women were made, have too much occupied the thoughts of women;
and this association has so entangled love with all their motives
of action; and, to harp a little on an old string, having been
solely employed either to prepare themselves to excite love, or
actually putting their lessons in practice, they cannot live
without love. But, when a sense of duty, or fear of shame, obliges
them to restrain this pampered desire of pleasing beyond certain
lengths, too far for delicacy, it is true, though far from
criminality, they obstinately determine to love, I speak of the
passion, their husbands to the end of the chapter--and then acting
the part which they foolishly exacted from their lovers, they
become abject wooers and fond slaves.
Men of wit and fancy are often rakes; and fancy is the food of
love. Such men will inspire passion. Half the sex, in its present
infantine state, would pine for a Lovelace; a man so witty, so
graceful, and so valiant: and can they deserve blame for acting
according to principles so constantly inculcated? They want a
lover, and protector; and behold him kneeling before them--bravery
prostrate to beauty! The virtues of a husband are thus thrown by
love into the background, and gay hopes, or lively emotions, banish
reflection till the day of reckoning come; and come it surely will,
to turn the sprightly lover into a surly suspicious tyrant, who
contemptuously insults the very weakness he fostered. or, supposing
the rake reformed, he cannot quickly get rid of old habits. When a
man of abilities is first carried away by his passions, it is
necessary that sentiment and taste varnish the enormities of vice,
and give a zest to brutal indulgences; but when the gloss of
novelty is worn off, and pleasure palls upon the sense,
lasciviousness becomes barefaced, and enjoyment only the desperate
effort of weakness flying from reflection as from a legion of
devils. Oh! virtue, thou art not an empty name! All that life can
give--thou givest!
If much comfort cannot be expected from the friendship of a
reformed rake of superior abilities, what is the consequence when
he lacketh sense, as well as principles? Verily misery, in its most
hideous shape. When the habits of weak people are consolidated by
time, a reformation is barely possible; and actually makes the
beings miserable who have not sufficient mind to be amused by
innocent pleasure; like the tradesman who retires from the hurry of
business, Nature presents to them only a universal blank; and the
restless thoughts prey on the damped spirits.[2] The reformation,
as well as his retirement, actually makes them wretched, because it
deprives them of all employment, by quenching the hopes and fears
that set in motion their sluggish minds.
If such be the force of habit; if such be the bondage of folly, how
carefully ought we to guard the mind from storing up vicious
associations; and equally careful should we be to cultivate the
understanding, to save the poor wight from the weak dependent state
of even harmless ignorance. For it is the right use of reason alone
which make us independent of everything--excepting the unclouded
reason--"Whose service is perfect freedom."
NOTES
[1] I have sometimes, when inclined to laugh at materialists,
asked whether, as the most powerful effects in nature are
apparently produced by fluids, the magnetic, etc., the passions
might not be fine volatile fluids that embraced humanity, keeping
the more refractory elementary parts together -- or whether they
were simply a liquid fire that pervaded the more sluggish
materials, giving them life and heat?
[2] I have frequently seen this exemplified in women whose beauty
could no longer be repaired. They have retired from the noisy
scenes of dissipation; but unless they became Methodists, the
solitude of the select society of their family connections or
acquaintance, has presented only a fearful void; consequently,
nervous complaints, and all the vapourish train of idleness,
rendered them quite as useless, and far more unhappy than when they
joined the giddy throng.
CHAPTER VII
MODESTY--COMPREHENSIVELY CONSIDERED, AND NOT
AS A SEXUAL VIRTUE
Modesty! sacred offspring of sensibility and reason!--true
delicacy of mind!--may I unblamed presume to investigate thy
nature, and trace to its covert the mild charm, that mellowing each
harsh feature of a character, renders what would otherwise only
inspire cold admiration--lovely! Thou that smoothest the wrinkles
of wisdom, and softenest the tone of the sublimest virtues till
they all melt into humanity; thou that spreadest the ethereal cloud
that, surrounding love, heightens every beauty, it half shades,
breathing those coy sweets that steal into the heart, and charm the
senses-- modulate for me the language of persuasive reason, till I
rouse my sex from the flowery bed, on which they supinely sleep
life away!
In speaking of the association of our ideas, I have noticed two
distinct modes; and in defining modesty, it appears to me equally
proper to discriminate that purity of mind, which is the effect of
chastity, from a simplicity of character that leads us to form a
just opinion of ourselves, equally distant from vanity or
presumption, though by no means incompatible with a lofty
consciousness of our own dignity. Modesty, in the latter
signification of the term, is that soberness of mind which teaches
a man not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think,
and should be distinguished from humility, because humility is a
kind of self-abasement.
A modest man often conceives a great plan, and tenaciously adheres
to it, conscious of his own strength, till success gives it a
sanction that determines its character. Milton was not arrogant
when he suffered a suggestion of judgment to escape him that proved
a prophecy; nor was General Washington when he accepted of the
command of the American forces. The latter has always been
characterised as a modest man; but had he been merely humble, he
would probably have shrunk back irresolute, afraid of trusting to
himself the direction of an enterprise, on which so much depended.
A modest man is steady, an humble man timid, and a vain one
presumptuous: this is the judgment, which the observation of many
characters, has led me to form. Jesus Christ was modest, Moses was
humble, and Peter vain.
Thus, discriminating modesty from humility in one case, I do not
mean to confound it with bashfulness in the other. Bashfulness, in
fact, is so distinct from modesty, that the most bashful lass or
raw country lout, often become the most impudent; for their
bashfulness being merely the instinctive timidity of ignorance,
custom soon changes it into assurance.[1]
The shameless behaviour of the prostitutes, who infest the streets
of this metropolis, raising alternate emotions of pity and disgust,
may serve to illustrate this remark. They trample on virgin
bashfulness with a sort of bravado, and glorifying in their shame,
become more audaciously lewd than men, however depraved, to whom
this sexual quality has not been gratuitously granted, ever appear
to be. But these poor ignorant wretches never had any modesty to
lose, when they consigned themselves to infamy; for modesty is a
virtue, not a quality. No, they were only bashful, shamefaced
innocents; and losing their innocence, their shamefacedness was
rudely brushed off: a virtue would have left some vestiges in the
mind, had it been sacrificed to passion, to make us respect the
grand ruin.
Purity of mind, or that genuine delicacy, which is the only
virtuous support of chastity, is near akin to that refinement of
humanity, which never resides in any but cultivated minds. It is
something nobler than innocence, it is the delicacy of reflection,
and not the coyness of ignorance. The reserve of reason, which,
like habitual cleanliness, is seldom seen in any great degree,
unless the soul is active, may easily be distinguished from rustic
shyness or wanton skittishness; and, so far from being incompatible
with knowledge, it is its fairest fruit. What a gross idea of
modesty had the writer of the following remark!--"The lady who
asked the question whether women may be instructed in the modern
system of botany consistently with female delicacy? was accused of
ridiculous prudery; nevertheless, if she had proposed the question
to me, I should certainly have answered--they cannot." Thus is the
fair book of knowledge to be shut with an everlasting seal! on
reading similar passages I have reverentially lifted up my eyes and
heart to Him who liveth for ever and ever, and said, "O, my Father,
hast Thou, by the very constitution of her nature forbid Thy child
to seek Thee in the fair forms of truth? And can her soul be
sullied by the knowledge that awfully calls her to Thee?"
I have then philosophically pursued these reflections till I
inferred that those women who have most improved their reason must
have the most modesty, though a dignified sedateness of deportment
may have succeeded the playful, bewitching bashfulness of youth.[2]
And thus have I argued. To render chastity the virtue from which
unsophisticated modesty will naturally flow, the attention should
be called away from employments which only exercise the
sensibility, and the heart made to beat time to humanity rather
than to throb with love. The woman who has dedicated a considerable
portion of her time to pursuits purely intellectual, and whose
affections have been exercised by humane plans of usefulness, must
have more purity of mind, as a natural consequence, than the
ignorant beings whose time and thoughts have been occupied by gay
pleasures, or schemes to conquer hearts.[3] The regulation of the
behaviour is not modesty, though those who study rules of decorum
are in general termed modest women. Make the heart clean; let it
expand and feel for all that is human, instead of being narrowed by
selfish passions; and let the mind frequently contemplate subjects
that exercise the understanding, without heating the imagination,
and artless modesty will give the finishing touches to the picture.
She who can discern the dawn of immortality in the streaks that
shoot athwart the misty night of ignorance, promising a clearer
day, will respect, as a sacred temple, the body that enshrines such
an improvable soul. True love likewise spreads this kind of
mysterious sanctity round the beloved object, making the lover most
modest when in her presence.[4] So reserved is affection that,
receiving or returning personal endearments, it wishes not only to
shun the human eye, as a kind of profanation, but to diffuse an
encircling cloudy obscurity to shut out even the saucy sparkling
sunbeams. Yet that affection does not deserve the epithet of chaste
which docs not receive a sublime gloom of tender melancholy, that
allows the mind for a moment to stand still and enjoy the present
satisfaction, when a consciousness of the Divine presence is
felt--for this must ever be the food of joy.
As I have always been fond of tracing to its source in nature any
prevailing custom, I have frequently thought that it was a
sentiment of affection for whatever had touched the person of an
absent or lost friend, which gave birth to that respect for relics,
so much abused by selfish priests. Devotion or love may be allowed
to hallow the garments as well as the person, for the lover must
want fancy who has not a sort of sacred respect for the glove or
slipper of his mistress. He could not confound them with vulgar
things of the same kind. This fine sentiment perhaps would not bear
to be analysed by the experimental philosopher. But of such stuff
is human rapture made up. A shadowy phantom glides before us,
obscuring every other object; yet when the soft cloud is grasped,
the form melts into common air, leaving a solitary void, or sweet
perfume, stolen from the violet, that memory long holds dear. But
I have tripped unawares on fairy ground, feeling the balmy gale of
spring stealing on me, though November frowns.
As a sex, women are more chaste than men; and as modesty is the
effect of chastity, they may deserve to have this virtue ascribed
to them in rather an appropriated sense. Yet I must be allowed to
add an hesitating if, for I doubt whether chastity will produce
modesty, though it may propriety of conduct, when it is merely a
respect for the opinion of the world,[5] and when coquetry and the
lovelorn tales of novelists employ the thoughts. Nay, from
experience and reason, I should be led to expect to meet with more
modesty amongst men than women, simply because men exercise their
understandings more than women.
But with respect to propriety of behaviour, excepting one class of
females, women have evidently the advantage. What can be more
disgusting than that impudent dross of gallantry thought so manly,
which makes many men stare insultingly at every female they meet?
Can it be termed respect for the sex? No, this loose behaviour
shows such habitual depravity, such weakness of mind, that it is
vain to expect much public or private virtue till both men and
women grow more modest--till men, curbing a sensual fondness for
the sex, or an affectation of manly assurance--more properly
speaking, impudence--treat each other with respect, unless appetite
or passion give the tone, peculiar to it, to their behaviour. I
mean every personal respect--the modest respect of humanity and
fellow-feeling--not the libidinous mockery of gallantry, nor the
insolent condescension of protectorship.
To carry the observation still further, modesty must heartily
disclaim, and refuse to dwell with that debauchery of mind, which
leads a man coolly to bring forward, without a blush, indecent
allusions, or obscene witticisms, in the presence of a
fellow-creature; women are now out of the question, for then it is
brutality. Respect for man, as man, is the foundation of every
noble sentiment. How much more modest is the libertine who obeys
the call of appetite or fancy than the lewd joker who sets the
table in a roar!
This is one of the many instances in which the sexual distinction
respecting modesty has proved fatal to virtue and happiness It is,
however, carried still further, and woman--weak woman--made by her
education the slave of sensibility, is required, on the most trying
occasions, to resist that sensibility. "Can anything," says Knox,
"be more absurd than keeping women in a state of ignorance, and yet
so vehemently to insist on their resisting temptation?" Thus when
virtue or honour make it proper to check a passion, the burden is
thrown on the weaker shoulders, contrary to reason and true
modesty, which at least should render the self-denial mutual, to
say nothing of the generosity of bravery, supposed to be a manly
virtue.
In the same strain runs Rousseau's and Dr. Gregory's advice
respecting modesty, strangely miscalled! for they both desire a
wife to leave it in doubt whether sensibility or weakness led her
to her husband's arms. The woman is immodest who can let the shadow
of such a doubt remain in her husband's mind a moment.
But, to state the subject in a different light, the want of
modesty, which I principally deplore as subversive of morality,
arises from the state of warfare so strenuously supported by
voluptuous men as the very essence of modesty, though, in fact, its
bane, because it is a refinement on lust that men fall into who
have not sufficient virtue to relish the innocent pleasures of
love. A man of delicacy carries his notions of modesty still
further, for neither weakness nor sensibility will gratify him--he
looks for affection.
Again. Men boast of their triumphs over women. What do they boast
of? Truly the creature of sensibility was surprised by her
sensibility into folly--into vice;[6] and the dreadful reckoning
falls
heavily on her own weak head, when reason wakes. For where art thou
to find comfort, forlorn and disconsolate one? He who ought to have
directed thy reason, and supported thy weakness, has betrayed thee.
In a dream of passion thou consented to wander through flowery
lawns, and heedlessly stepping over the precipice to which they
guide, instead of guarding, lured thee; thou startest from thy
dream only to face a sneering, frowning world, and to find thyself
alone in a waste, for he that triumphed in thy weakness is now
pursuing new conquests. But for thee there is no redemption on this
side the grave! And what resource hast thou in an enervated mind to
raise a sinking heart?
But if the sexes be really to live in a state of warfare, if Nature
have pointed it out, let them act nobly, or let pride whisper to
them that the victory is mean when they merely vanquish
sensibility. The real conquest is that over affection not taken by
surprise, when, like Heloisa, a woman gives up all the world
deliberately for love. I do not now consider the wisdom or virtue
of such a sacrifice, I only contend that it was a sacrifice to
affection, and not merely to sensibility, though she had her share.
And I must be allowed to call her a modest woman, before I dismiss
this part of the subject, by saying, that till men are more chaste,
women will be immodest. Where, indeed, could modest women find
husbands from whom they would not continually turn with disgust?
Modesty must be equally cultivated by both sexes, or it will ever
remain a sickly hot-house plant, whilst the affectation of it, the
fig leaf borrowed by wantonness, may give a zest to voluptuous
enjoyments.
Men will probably still insist that woman ought to have more
modesty than man; but it is not dispassionate reasoners who will
most earnestly oppose my opinion. No, they are the men of fancy,
the favourites of the sex, who outwardly respect and inwardly
despise the weak creatures whom they thus sport with. They cannot
submit to resign the highest sensual gratification, nor even to
relish the epicurism of virtue--self-denial.
To take another view of the subject, confining my remarks to women.
The ridiculous falsities[7] which are told to children, from
mistaken notions of modesty, tend very early to inflame their
imaginations and set their little minds to work, respecting
subjects which Nature never intended they should think of till the
body arrived at some degree of maturity; then the passions
naturally begin to take the place of the senses, as instruments to
unfold the understanding, and form the moral character.
In nurseries and boarding-schools, I fear, girls are first spoiled,
particularly in the latter. A number of girls sleep in the same
room, and wash together. And though I should be sorry to
contaminate an innocent creature's mind by instilling false
delicacy, or those indecent prudish notions which early cautions
respecting the other sex naturally engender, I should be very
anxious to prevent their acquiring nasty or immodest habits; and as
many girls have learned very nasty tricks from ignorant servants,
the mixing them thus indiscriminately together, is very improper.
To say the truth, women are in general too familiar with each
other, which leads to that gross degree of familiarity that so
frequently renders the marriage state unhappy. Why in the name of
decency are sisters, female intimates, or ladies and their
waiting-women, to be so grossly familiar as to forget the respect
which one human creature owes to another? That squeamish delicacy
which shrinks from the most disgusting offices when affection [8]
or humanity lead us to watch at a sick pillow is despicable. But
why women in health should be more familiar with each other than
men are, when they boast of their superior delicacy, is a solecism
in manners which I could never solve.
In order to preserve health and beauty, I should earnestly
recommend frequent ablutions, to dignify my advice that it may not
offend the fastidious ear; and by example, girls ought to be taught
to wash and dress alone, without any distinction of rank; and if
custom should make them require some little assistance, let them
not require it till that part of the business is over which ought
never to be done before a fellow-creature, because it is an insult
to the majesty of human nature. Not on the score of modesty, but
decency; for the care which some modest women take, making at the
same time a display of that care not to let their legs be seen, is
as childish as immodest.[9]
I could proceed still further, till I animadverted on still more
nasty customs, which men never fall into. Secrets are told where
silence ought to reign; and that regard to cleanliness, which some
religious sects have perhaps carried too far especially the
Essenes, amongst the Jews, by making that an insult to God which is
only an insult to humanity, is violated in a beastly manner. How
can delicate women obtrude notice that part of the animal economy,
which is so very disgusting? And is it not very rational to
conclude, that women who have not been taught to respect the human
nature of their own sex in these particulars, will not long respect
the mere difference of sex in their husbands? After their maidenish
bashfulness is once lost, I, in fact, have generally observed that
women fall into old habits, and treat their husbands as they did
their sisters or female acquaintance.
Besides, women from necessity, because their minds are not
cultivated, have recourse very often to what I familiarly term
bodily wit, and their intimacies are of the same kind. In with
respect to both mind and body, they are too intimate. That decent
personal reserve, which is the foundation of dignity of character,
must be kept up between woman, or their minds will never gain
strength or modesty.
On this account also, I object to many females being shut up
together in nurseries, schools, or convents. I cannot recollect,
without indignation, the jokes and hoyden tricks which knots of
young women indulged themselves in, when in my youth accident threw
me, an awkward rustic, in their way. They were almost on a par with
the double meanings which shake the convivial table when the glass
has circulated freely. But it is vain to attempt to keep the heart
pure unless the head is furnished with ideas, and set to work to
compare them, in order to acquire judgment, by generalising simple
ones; and modesty, by making the understanding damp the
sensibility.
It may be thought that I lay too great a stress on personal
reserve, but it is ever the handmaid of modesty; so that were I to
name the graces that ought to adorn beauty, I should instantly
exclaim, cleanliness, neatness, and personal reserve. It is
obvious, I suppose, that the reserve I mean has nothing sexual in
it, and that I think it equally necessary in both sexes. So
necessary, indeed, is that reserve and cleanliness which indolent
women too often neglect, that I will venture to affirm that, when
two or three women live in the same house, the one will be most
respected by the male part of the family who reside with them,
leaving love entirely out of the question, who pays this kind of
habitual respect to her person.
When domestic friends meet in a morning, there will naturally
prevail an affectionate seriousness, especially if each look
forward to the discharge of daily duties; and it may be reckoned
fanciful, but this sentiment has frequently risen spontaneously in
my mind, I have been pleased, after breathing the sweet bracing
morning air, to see the same kind of freshness in the countenances
I particularly loved; I was glad to see them braced, as it were,
for the day, and ready to run their course with the sun. The
greetings of affection in the morning are by these means more
respectful than the familiar tenderness which frequently prolongs
the evening talk. Nay, I have often felt hurt, not to say
disgusted, when a friend has appeared, whom I parted with full
dressed the evening before, with her clothes huddled on, because
she chose to indulge herself in bed till the last moment.
Domestic affection can only be kept alive by these neglected
attentions; yet if men and women took half as much pains to dress
habitually neat, as they do to ornament, or rather to disfigure,
their persons, much would be done towards the attainment of purity
of mind. But women only dress to gratify men of gallantry; for the
lover is always best pleased with the simple garb that fits close
to the shape. There is an impertinence in ornaments that rebuffs
affection, because love always clings round the idea of home.
As a sex, women are habitually indolent; and everything tends to
make them so. I do not forget the spurts of activity which
sensibility produces; but as these flights of feelings only
increase the evil, they are not to be confounded with the slow,
orderly walk of reason. So great in reality is their mental and
bodily indolence, that till their body be strengthened and their
understanding enlarged by active exertions, there is little reason
to expect that modesty will take place of bashfulness. They may
find it prudent to assume its semblance; but the fair veil will
only be worn on gala days.
Perhaps, there is not a virtue that mixes so kindly with every
other as modesty. It is the pale moonbeam that renders more
interesting every virtue it softens, giving mild grandeur to the
contracted horizon. Nothing can be more beautiful than the poetical
fiction, which makes Diana with her silver crescent, the goddess of
chastity. I have sometimes thought, that wandering with sedate step
in some lonely recess, a modest dame of antiquity must have felt a
glow of conscious dignity when, after contemplating the soft
shadowy landscaper she has invited with placid fervour the mild
reflection of her sister's beams to turn to her chaste bosom.
A Christian has still nobler motives to incite her to preserve her
chastity and acquire modesty, for her body has been called the
temple of the living God; of that God who requires more than
modesty of mien. His eye searcheth the heart; and let her remember,
that if she hope to find favour in the sight of purity itself, her
chastity must be founded on modesty, and not on worldly prudence;
or verily a good reputation will be her only reward; for that awful
intercourse, that sacred communication, which virtue establishes
between man and his Maker, must give rise to the wish of being pure
as He is pure!
After the foregoing remarks, it is almost superfluous to add, that
I consider all those feminine airs of maturity, which succeed
bashfulness, to which truth is sacrificed, to secure the heart of
a husband, or rather to force him to be still a lover when Nature
would, had she not been interrupted in her operations, have made
love give place to friendship, as immodest. The tenderness which a
man will feel for the mother of his children is an excellent
substitute for the ardour of unsatisfied passion; but to prolong
that ardour it is indelicate, not to say immodest, for women to
feign an unnatural coldness of constitution. Women as well as men
ought to have the common appetites and passions of their nature,
they are only brutal when unchecked by reason: but the obligation
to check them is the duty of mankind, not a sexual duty. Nature, in
these respects, may safely be left to herself; let women only
acquire knowledge and humanity, and love will teach them
modesty.[10] There is no need of falsehoods, disgusting as futile,
for studied rules of behaviour only impose on shallow observers; a
man of sense soon sees through, and despises the affectation.
The behaviour of young people, to each other, as men and women, is
the last thing that should be thought of in education. In fact,
behaviour in most circumstances is now so much thought of, that
simplicity of character is rarely to be seen: yet, if men were only
anxious to cultivate each virtue and let it take root firmly in the
mind, the grace resulting from it, its natural exterior mark, would
soon strip affectation of its flaunting plumes; because, fallacious
as unstable, is the conduct that is not founded upon truth!
Would ye, o my sisters, really possess modesty, ye must remember
that the possession of virtue, of any denomination, is incompatible
with ignorance and vanity! ye must acquire that soberness of mind,
which the exercise of duties, and the pursuit of knowledge, alone
inspire, or ye will still remain in a doubtful dependent situation,
and only be loved whilst ye are fair! The downcast eye, the rosy
blush, the retiring grace, are all proper in their season; but
modesty being the child of reason, cannot long exist with the
sensibility that is not tempered by reflection. Besides, when love,
even innocent love, is the whole employ of your lives, your hearts
will be too soft to afford modesty that tranquil retreat, where she
delights to dwell, in close union with humanity.
[1] "Such is the country maiden's fright,
When first a redcoat is in sight,
Behind the door she hides her face;
Next time at distance eyes the lace;
She now can all his terrors stand,
Nor from his squeeze withdraws her hand,
She plays familiar in his arms,
And every soldier hath his charms;
From tent to tent she spreads her flame;
For custom conquers fear and shame." -- GAY
[2] Modesty is the graceful calm virtue of maturity; bashfulness
the charm of vivacious youth.
[3] I have conversed, as man with man, with medical men on
anatomical subjects, and compared the proportions of the human body
with artists, yet such modesty did I meet with, that I was never
reminded by word or look of my sex, of the absurd rules which make
modesty a Pharisaical cloak of weakness. And I am persuaded that in
the pursuit of knowledge women would never be insulted by sensible
me, and rarely by men of any description, if they did not by mock
modesty remind them that they were women -- actuated by the same
spirit as the Portuguese ladies, who would think their charms
insulted if, when left alone with a man, he did not at least
attempt to be grossly familiar with their persons. Men are not
always men in the company of women, nor would women always remember
that they are women, if they were allowed to acquire more
understanding.
[4] Male or female, for the world contains many modest men.
[5] The immodest behaviour of many married women, who are
nevertheless faithful to their husbands' beds, will illustrate this
remark.
[6] The poor moth fluttering round a candle, burns its wings.
[7] Children very early see cats with their kittens, birds with
their young ones, etc. Why then are they not to be told that their
mothers carry and nourish them in the same way? As there would then
be no appearance of mystery, they would never think of the subject
more. Truth may always be told to children, if it be told gravely;
but it is the modesty of affected modesty that does all the
mischief; and this smoke heats the imagination by vainly
endeavouring to obscure certain objects. If, indeed, children could
be kept entirely from improper company, we should never allude to
any such subjects; but as this is impossible, it is best to tell
them the truth, especially as such information, not interesting
them, will make no impression on their imagination.
[8] Affection would rather make one choose to perform these
offices, to spare the delicacy of a friend, by still keeping a
veil over them, for the personal helplessness, produced by
sickness, is of an humbling nature.
[9] I remember to have met with a sentence, in a book of
education, that made me smile: "It would be needless to caution you
against putting your hand by chance under you neck-handkerchief,
for a modest woman never did so!"
[10] The behaviour of many newly married women has often disgusted
me. They seem anxious never to let their husbands forget the
privilege of marriage; and to find no pleasure in his society
unless he is acting the lover. Short, indeed, must be the reign of
love, when the flame is thus constantly blown up, without its
receiving any solid fuel!
CHAPTER VIII
MORALITY UNDERMINED BY SEXUAL NOTIONS OF
THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD REPUTATION
It has long since occurred to me that advice respecting behaviour,
and all the various modes of preserving a good reputation, which
have been so strenuously inculcated on the female world, were
specious poisons, that encrusting morality eat away the substance.
And, that this measuring of shadows produced a false calculation,
because their length depends so much on the height of the sun, and
other adventitious circumstances.
Whence arises the easy fallacious behaviour of a courtier? From his
situation, undoubtedly: for standing in need of dependents, he is
obliged to learn the art of denying without giving offence, and, of
evasively feeding hope with the chameleon's food: thus does
politeness sport with truth, and eating away the sincerity and
humanity native to man, produce the fine gentleman.
Women likewise acquire, from a supposed necessity, an equally
artificial mode of behaviour. Yet truth is not with impunity to be
sported with, for the practised dissembler, at last become the dupe
of his own arts, loses that sagacity, which has been justly termed
common sense; namely a quick perception of common truths: which are
constantly.received as such by the unsophisticated mind, though it
might not have had sufficient energy to discover themselves, when
obscured by local prejudices. The greater number of people take
their opinions on trust to avoid the trouble of exercising their
own minds, and these indolent beings naturally adhere to the
letter, rather than the spirit of a law, divine or human. "Women,"
says some author, I cannot recollect who, " mind not what only
Heaven sees." Why, indeed, should they? it is the eye of man that
they have been taught to dread--and if they can lull their Argus to
sleep, they seldom think of Heaven or themselves, because their
reputation is safe; and it is reputation, not chastity and all its
fair train, that they are employed to keep free from spot, not as
a virtue, but to preserve their station in the world.
To prove the truth of this remark, I need not advert to the
intrigues of married women, particularly in high life, and in
countries where women are suitably married, according to their
respective ranks, by their parents. If an innocent girl become a
prey to love, she is degraded for ever, though her mind was not
polluted by the arts which married women, under the convenient
cloak of marriage, practise; nor has she violated any duty--but the
duty of respecting herself. The married woman, on the contrary,
breaks a most sacred engagement, and becomes a cruel mother when
she is a false and faithless wife. If her husband have still an
affection for her, the arts which she must practise to deceive him,
will render her the most contemptible of human beings; and, at any
rate, the contrivances necessary to preserve appearances, will keep
her mind in that childish, or vicious, tumult, which destroys all
its energy. Besides, in time, like those people who habitually take
cordials to raise their spirits, she will want an intrigue to give
life to her thoughts, having lost all relish for pleasures that are
not highly seasoned by hope or fear.
Sometimes married women act still more audaciously. I will mention
an instance.
A woman of quality, notorious for her gallantries, though as she
still lived with her husband, nobody chose to place her in the
class where she ought to have been placed, made a point of treating
with the most insulting contempt a poor timid creature, abashed by
a sense of her former weakness, whom a neighbouring gentleman had
seduced and afterwards married. The woman had actually confounded
virtue with reputation; and, I do believe, valued herself on the
propriety of her behaviour before marriage, though when once
settled to the satisfaction of her family, she and her lord were
equally faithless, so that the half-alive heir to an immense estate
came from Heaven knows where!
To view this subject in another light.
I have known a number of women who, if they did not love their
husbands, loved nobody else, give themselves entirely up to vanity
and dissipation, neglecting every domestic duty; nay even
squandering away all the money which should have been saved for
their helpless younger children, yet have plumed themselves on
their unsullied reputation, as if the whole compass of their duty
as wives and mothers was only to preserve it. Whilst other indolent
women, neglecting every personal duty have thought that they
deserved their husbands' affection, because, forsooth, they acted
in this respect with propriety.
Weak minds are always fond of resting in the ceremonials of duty,
but morality offers much simpler motives; and it were to be wished
that superficial moralists had said less respecting behaviour, and
outward observances, for unless virtue, of any kind, be built on
knowledge, it will only produce a kind of insipid decency. Respect
for the opinion of the world, has, however, been termed the
principal duty of woman in the most express words, for Rousseau
declares, "that reputation is no less indispensable than chastity."
"A man," adds he, "secure in his own good conduct, depends only on
himself, and may brave the public opinion; but a woman, in behaving
well, performs but half her duty; as what is thought of her, is as
important to her as what she really is. It follows hence, that the
system of a woman's education should in this respect, be directly
contrary to that of ours. opinion is the grave of virtue among the
men; but its throne among women." It is strictly logical to infer
that the virtue that rests on opinion is merely worldly, and that
it is the virtue of a being to whom reason has been denied. But,
even with respect to the opinion of the world, I am convinced that
this class of reasoners are mistaken.
This regard for reputation, independent of its being one of the
natural rewards of virtue, however, took its rise from a cause that
I have already deplored as the grand source of female depravity,
the impossibility of regaining respectability by a return to
virtue, though men preserve theirs during the indulgence of vice.
It was natural for women then to endeavour to preserve what once
lost--was lost for ever, till this care swallowing up every other
care, reputation for chastity, became the one thing needful to the
sex. But vain is the scrupulosity of ignorance, for neither
religion nor virtue, when they reside in the heart, require such a
puerile attention to mere ceremonies, because the behaviour must,
upon the whole, be proper, when the motive is pure.
To support my opinion I can produce very respectable authority; and
the authority of a cool reasoner ought to have weight to enforce
consideration, though not to establish a sentiment. Speaking of the
general laws of morality, Dr. Smith observes,--"That by some very
extraordinary and unlucky circumstance, a good man may come to be
suspected of a crime of which he was altogether incapable, and upon
that account be most unjustly exposed for the remaining part of his
life to the horror and aversion of mankind. By an accident of this
kind he may be said to lose his all, notwithstanding his integrity
and justice, in the same manner as a cautious man, notwithstanding
his utmost circumspection, may be ruined by an earthquake or an
inundation. Accidents of the first kind, however, are perhaps still
more rare, and still more contrary to the common course of things
than those of the second; and it still remains true, that the
practice of truth, justice, and humanity, is a certain and almost
infallible method of acquiring what those virtues chiefly aim at,
the confidence and love of those we live with. A person may be
easily misrepresented with regard to a particular action; but it is
scarce possible that he should be so with regard to the general
tenor of his conduct. An innocent man may be believed to have done
wrong: this, however, will rarely happen. On the contrary, the
established opinion of the innocence of his manners will often lead
us to absolve him where he has really been in the fault,
notwithstanding very strong presumptions."
I perfectly coincide in opinion with this writer, for I verily
believe that few of either sex were ever despised for certain vices
without deserving to be despised. I speak not of the calumny of the
moment, which hovers over a character, like one of the dense
morning fogs of November, over this metropolis, till it gradually
subsides before the common light of day, I only contend that the
daily conduct of the majority prevails to stamp their character
with the impression of truth. Quietly does the clear light, shining
day after day, refute the ignorant surmise, or malicious tale,
which has thrown dirt on a pure character. A false light distorted,
for a short time, its shadow--reputation; but it seldom fails to
become just when the cloud is dispersed that produced the mistake
in vision.
Many people, undoubtedly, in several respects obtain a better
reputation than, strictly speaking, they deserve; for unremitting
industry will mostly reach its goal in all races. They who only
strive for this paltry prize, like the Pharisees, who prayed at the
corners of streets, to be seen of men, verily obtain the reward
they seek; for the heart of man cannot be read by man! Still the
fair fame that is naturally reflected by good actions, when the man
is only employed to direct his steps aright, regardless of the
lookers-on, is, in general, not only more true, but more sure.
There are, it is true, trials when the good man must appeal to God
from the injustice of man; and amidst the whining candour or
hissings of envy, erect a pavilion in his own mind to retire to
till the rumour be overpast; nay, the darts of undeserved censure
may pierce an innocent tender bosom through with many sorrows; but
these are all exceptions to general rules. And it is according to
common laws that human behaviour ought to be regulated. The
eccentric orbit of the comet-never influences astronomical
calculations respecting the invariable order established in the
motion of the principal bodies of the solar system.
I will then venture to affirm, that after a man is arrived at
maturity, the general outline of his character in the world is
just, allowing for the before-mentioned exceptions to the rule. I
do not say that a prudent, worldly-wise man, with only negative
virtues and qualities, may not sometimes obtain a smoother
reputation than a wiser or a better man. So far from it, that I am
apt to conclude from experience, that where the virtue of two
people is nearly equal, the most negative character will be liked
best by the world at large, whilst the other may have more friends
in private life. But the hills and dales, clouds and sunshine,
conspicuous in the virtues of great men, set off each other; and
though they afford envious weakness a fairer mark to shoot at, the
real character will still work its way to light, though bespattered
by weak affection, or ingenious malice.[1]
With respect to that anxiety to preserve a reputation hardly
earned, which leads sagacious people to analyse it, I shall not
make the obvious comment; but I am afraid that morality is very
insidiously undermined, in the female world, by the attention being
turned to the show instead of the substance. A simple thing is thus
made strangely complicated; nay, sometimes virtue and its shadow
are set at variance. We should never, perhaps, have heard of
Lucretia, had she died to preserve her chastity instead of her
reputation. If we really deserve our own good opinion we shall
commonly be respected in the world; but if we pant after higher
improvement and higher attainments, it is not sufficient to view
ourselves as we suppose that we are viewed by others, though this
has been ingeniously argued, as the foundation of our moral
sentiments.[2] Because each bystander may have his own prejudices,
beside the prejudices of his age or country. We should rather
endeavour to view ourselves as we suppose that Being views us who
seeth each thought ripen into action, and whose judgment never
swerves from the eternal rule of right. Righteous are all His
judgments--just as merciful!
The humble mind that seeketh to find favour in His sight, and
calmly examines its conduct when only His presence is felt, will
seldom form a very erroneous opinion of its own virtues. During the
still hour of self-collection the angry brow of offended justice
will be fearfully deprecated, or the tie which draws man to the
Deity will be recognised in the pure sentiment of reverential
adoration, that swells the heart without exciting any tumultuous
emotions. In these solemn moments man discovers the germ of those
vices, which, like the Java tree, shed a pestiferous vapour
around--death is in the shade! and he perceives them without
abhorrence, because he feels himself drawn by some cord of love to
all his fellow-creatures, for whose follies he is anxious to find
every extenuation in their nature--in himself. If I, he may thus
argue, who exercise my own mind, and have been refined by
tribulation, find the serpent's egg in some fold of my heart, and
crush it with difficulty, shall I not pity those who have stamped
with less vigour, or who have heedlessly nurtured the insidious
reptile till it poisoned the vital stream it sucked? Can I,
conscious of my secret sins, throw off my fellow-creatures, and
calmly see them drop into the chasm of perdition, that yawns to
receive them. No, no! The agonised heart will cry with suffocating
impatience--I, too, am a man! and have vices, hid perhaps, from
human eye, that bend me to the dust before God, and loudly tell me,
when all is mute, that we are formed of the same earth, and breathe
the same element. Humanity thus rises naturally out of humility and
twists the cords of love that in various convolutions entangle the
heart.
This sympathy extends still further, till a man well pleased
observes force in arguments that do not carry conviction to his own
bosom, and he gladly places in the fairest light, to himself, the
shows of reason that have led others astray, rejoiced to find some
reason in all the errors of man, though before convinced that He
who rules the day, makes His sun to shine on all. Yet, shaking
hands thus as it were with corruption, one foot on earth, the other
with bold stride mounts to Heaven and claims kindred with superior
natures. Virtues, unobserved by man, drop their balmy fragrance at
this cool hour, and the thirsty land, refreshed by the pure streams
of comfort that suddenly rush out, is crowned with smiling verdure;
this is the living green on which that eye may look with
complacency that is too pure to behold iniquity!
But my spirits flag; and I must silently indulge the reverie these
reflections lead to, unable to describe the sentiments, that have
calmed my soul, when watching the rising sun, a soft shower
drizzling through the leaves of neighbouring trees, seemed to fall
on my languid, yet tranquil spirits, to cool the heart that had
been heated by the passions which reason laboured to tame.
The leading principles which run through all my disquisitions,
would render it unnecessary to enlarge on this subject, if a
constant attention to keep the varnish of the character fresh, and
in good condition, were not often inculcated as the sum total of
female duty; if rules to regulate the behaviour, and to preserve
the reputation, did not too frequently supersede moral obligations.
But, with respect to reputation, the attention is confined to a
single virtue of chastity. If the honour of a woman, as it is
absurdly called, be safe, she may neglect every social duty; nay,
ruin her family by gaming and extravagance; yet still present a
shameless front--for truly she is an honourable woman!
Mrs. Macaulay has justly observed, that "there is but one fault
which a woman of honour may not commit with impunity." She then
justly and humanely adds--"This has given rise to the trite and
foolish observation, that the first fault against chastity in woman
has a radical power to deprave the character. But no such frail
beings come out of the hands of Nature. The human mind is built of
nobler materials than to he easily corrupted; and with all their
disadvantages of situation and education, women seldom become
entirely abandoned till they are thrown into a state of
desperation, by the venomous rancour of their own sex."
But, in proportion as this regard for the reputation of chastity is
prized by women, it is despised by men: and the two extremes are
equally destructive to morality.
Men are certainly more under the influence of their appetites than
women; and their appetites are more depraved by unbridled
indulgence and the fastidious contrivances of satiety. Luxury has
introduced a refinement in eating, that destroys the constitution;
and, a degree of gluttony which is so beastly, that a perception of
seemliness of behaviour must be worn out before one being could eat
immoderately in the presence of another, and afterwards complain of
the oppression that his intemperance naturally produced. Some
women, particularly French women, have also lost a sense of decency
in this respect; for they will talk very calmly of an indigestion.
It were to be wished that idleness was not allowed to generate, on
the rank soil of wealth, those swarms of summer insects that feed
on putrefaction, we should not then be disgusted by the sight of
such brutal excesses.
There is one rule relative to behaviour that, I think, ought to
regulate every other; and it is simply to cherish such an habitual
respect for mankind as may prevent us from disgusting a
fellow-creature for the sake of a present indulgence. The shameful
indolence of many married women and others a little advanced in
life, frequently leads them to sin against delicacy. For, though
convinced that the person is the band of union between the sexes,
yet, how often do they from sheer indolence, or, to enjoy some
trifling indulgence, disgust?
The depravity of the appetite which brings the sexes together, has
had a still more fatal effect. Nature must ever be the standard of
taste, the gauge of appetite--yet how grossly is nature insulted by
the voluptuary. Leaving the refinements of love out of the
question; nature, by making the gratification of an appetite, in
this respect, as well as every other, a natural and imperious law
to preserve the species, exalts the appetite, and mixes a little
mind and affection with a sensual gust. The feelings of a parent
mingling with an instinct merely animal, give it dignity; and the
man and woman often meeting on account of the child, a mutual
interest and affection is excited by the exercise of a common
sympathy. Women then having some necessary duty to fulfil, more
noble than to adorn their persons, would not contentedly be the
slaves of casual lust; which is now the situation of a very
considerable number who are, literally speaking, standing dishes to
which every glutton may have access.
I may be told that great as this enormity is it only affects a
devoted part of the sex--devoted for the salvation of the rest.
But, false as every assertion might easily be proved, that
recommends the sanctioning a small evil to produce a greater good;
the mischief does not stop here, for the moral character, and peace
of mind, of the chaster part of the sex, is undermined by the
conduct of the very women to whom they allow no refuge from guilt:
whom they inexorably consign to the arts that lure their husbands
from them, debauch and force them, let not modest women start, to
no refuge exercise of their sons, assume, in some degree, the same
character themselves. For I will venture to assert, that all the
causes of female weakness, as well as depravity, which I have
already enlarged on, branch out of one grand cause--want of
chastity in men.
This intemperance, so prevalent, depraves the appetite to such a
degree, that a wanton stimulus is necessary to rouse it; but the
parental design of Nature is forgotten, and the mere person, and
that for a moment, alone engrosses the thoughts. So voluptuous,
indeed, often grows the lustful prowler, that he refines on female
softness. Something more soft than women is then sought for; till,
in Italy and Portugal, men attend the levees of equivocal beings,
to sigh for more than female languor.
To satisfy this genus of men, women are made systematically
voluptuous, and though they may not all carry their libertinism to
the same height, yet this heartless intercourse with the sex, which
they allow themselves, depraves both sexes, because the taste of
men is vitiated; and women, of all classes, naturally square their
behaviour to gratify the taste by which they obtain pleasure and
power. Women becoming, consequently, weaker, in mind and body, than
they ought to be, were one of the grand ends of their being taken
into the account, that of bearing and nursing children, have not
sufficient strength to discharge the first duty of a mother; and
sacrificing to lasciviousness the parental affection, that ennobles
instinct, either destroy the embryo in the womb, or cast it off
when born. Nature in everything demands respect, and those who
violate her laws seldom violate them with impunity. The weak
enervated women who particularly catch the attention of libertines,
are unfit to be mothers, though they may conceive; so that the rich
sensualist, who has rioted among women, spreading depravity and
misery, when he wishes to perpetuate his name, receives from his
wife only an half-formed being that inherits both its father's and
mother's weakness.
Contrasting the humanity of the present age with the barbarism of
antiquity, great stress has been laid on the savage custom of
exposing the children whom their parents could not maintain; whilst
the man of sensibility, who thus, perhaps, complains, by his
promiscuous amours produces a most destructive barrenness and
contagious flagitiousness of manners. Surely nature never intended
that women, by satisfying an appetite, should frustrate the very
purpose for which it was implanted?
I have before observed, that men ought to maintain the women whom
they have seduced; this would be one means of reforming female
manners, and stopping an abuse that has an equally fatal effect on
population and morals. Another, no less obvious, would be to turn
the attention of woman to the real virtue of chastity; for to
little respect has that woman a claim, on the score of modesty,
though her reputation may be white as the driven snow, who smiles
on the libertine whilst she spurns the victims of his lawless
appetites and their own folly.
Besides, she has a taint of the same folly, pure as she esteems
herself, when she studiously adorns her person only to be seen by
men, to excite respectful sighs, and all the idle homage of what is
called innocent gallantry. Did women really respect virtue for its
own sake, they would not seek for a compensation in vanity, for the
self-denial which they are obliged to practise to preserve their
reputation, nor would they associate with men who set reputation at
defiance.
The two sexes mutually corrupt and improve each other. This I
believe to be an indisputable truth, extending it to every virtue.
Chastity, modesty, public spirit, and all the noble train of
virtues, on which social virtue and happiness are built, should be
understood and cultivated by all mankind, or they will be
cultivated to little effect. And, instead of furnishing the vicious
or idle with a pretext for violating some sacred duty, by terming
it a sexual one, it would be wiser to show that Nature has not made
any difference, for that the unchaste man doubly defeats the
purpose of Nature, by rendering women barren, and destroying his
own constitution, though he avoids the shame that pursues the crime
in the other sex. These are the physical consequences, the moral
are still more alarming; for virtue is only a nominal distinction
when the duties of citizens, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and
directors of families, become merely the selfish ties of
convenience.
Why then do philosophers look for public spirit? Public spirit must
be nurtured by private virtue, or it will resemble the factitious
sentiment which makes women careful to preserve their reputation,
and men their honour. A sentiment that often exists unsupported by
virtue, unsupported by that sublime morality which makes the
habitual breach of one duty a breach of the whole moral law.
NOTES
[1] I allude to various biographical writings, but particularly to
Boswell's Life of Johnson.
[2] Smith.
CHAPTER IX
OF THE PERNICIOUS EFFECTS WHICH ARISE FROM THE
UNNATURAL DISTINCTIONS ESTABLISHED IN SOCIETY
From the respect paid to property flow, as from a poisoned
fountain, most of the evils and vices which render this world such
a dreary scene to the contemplative mind. For it is in the most
polished society that noisome reptiles and venomous serpents lurk
under the rank herbage; and there is voluptuousness pampered by the
still sultry air, which relaxes every good disposition before it
ripens into virtue.
One class presses on another, for all are aiming to procure respect
on account of their property; and property once gained will procure
the respect due only to talents and virtue. Men neglect the duties
incumbent on man, yet are treated like demigods. Religion is also
separated from morality by a ceremonial veil, yet men wonder that
the world is almost, literally speaking, a den of sharpers or
oppressors.
There is a homely proverb, which speaks a shrewd truth, that
whoever the devil finds idle he will employ. And what but habitual
idleness can hereditary wealth and titles produce? For man is so
constituted that he can only attain a proper use of his faculties
by exercising them, and will not exercise them unless necessity of
some kind first set the wheels in motion. Virtue likewise can only
be acquired by the discharge of relative duties; but the importance
of these sacred duties will scarcely be felt by the being who is
cajoled out of his humanity by the flattery of sycophants. There
must be more equality established in society, or morality will
never gain ground, and this virtuous equality will not rest firmly
even when founded on a rock, if one-half of mankind be chained to
its bottom by fate, for they will be continually undermining it
through ignorance or pride.
It is vain to expect virtue from women till they are in some degree
independent of men; nay, it is vain to expect that strength of
natural affection which would make them good wives and mothers.
Whilst they are absolutely dependent on their husbands they will be
cunning, mean, and selfish; and the men who can be gratified by the
fawning fondness of spaniel-like affection have not much delicacy,
for love is not to be bought; in any sense of the words, its silken
wings are instantly shrivelled up when anything beside a return in
kind is sought. Yet whilst wealth enervates men, and women live, as
it were, by their personal charms, how can we expect them to
discharge those ennobling duties which equally require exertion and
self-denial? Hereditary property sophisticates the mind, and the
unfortunate victims to it--if I may so express myself--swathed from
their birth, seldom exert the locomotive faculty of body or mind,
and thus viewing everything through one medium, and that a false
one, they are unable to discern in what true merit and happiness
consist. False, indeed, must be the light when the drapery of
situation hides the man, and makes him stalk in masquerade,
dragging from one scene of dissipation to another the nerveless
limbs that hang with stupid listlessness, and rolling round the
vacant eye, which plainly tells us that there is no mind at home.
I mean therefore to infer that the society is not properly
organised which does not compel men and women to discharge their
respective duties by making it the only way to acquire that
countenance from their fellow-creatures, which every human being
wishes some way to attain. The respect consequently which is paid
to wealth and mere personal charms is a true north-east blast that
blights the tender blossoms of affection and virtue. Nature has
wisely attached affections to duties to sweeten toil, and to give
that vigour to the exertions of reason which only the heart can
give. But the affections which is put on merely because it is the
appropriated insignia of a certain character, when its duties are
not fulfilled, is one of the empty compliments which vice and folly
are obliged to pay to virtue and the real nature of things.
To illustrate my opinion, I need only observe that when a woman is
admired for her beauty, and suffers herself to be so far
intoxicated by the admiration she receives as to neglect to
discharge the indispensable duty of a mother, she sins against
herself by neglecting to cultivate an affection that would equally
tend to make her useful and happy. True happiness--I mean all the
contentment and virtuous satisfaction that can be snatched in this
imperfect state--must arise from well-regulated affections, and an
affection includes a duty. Men are not aware of the misery they
cause, and the vicious weakness they cherish, by only inciting
women to render themselves pleasing; they do not consider that they
thus make natural and artificial duties clash by sacrificing the
comfort and respectability of a woman's life to voluptuous notions
of beauty, when in nature they all harmonise.
Cold would be the heart of a husband, were he not rendered
unnatural by early debauchery, who did not feel more delight at
seeing his child suckled by its mother than the most artful wanton
tricks could ever raise, yet this natural way of cementing the
matrimonial tie, and twisting esteem with fonder recollections,
wealth leads women to spurn. To preserve their beauty, and wear the
flowery crown of the day, which gives them a kind of right to reign
for a short time over the sex, they neglect to stamp impressions on
their husbands' hearts that would be remembered with more
tenderness when the snow on the head began to chill the bosom than
even their virgin charms. The maternal solicitude of a reasonable
affectionate woman is very interesting, and the chastened dignity
with which a mother returns the caresses that she and her child
receive from a father who has been fulfilling the serious duties of
his station is not only a respectable, but a beautiful sight. So
singular, indeed, are my feelings--and I have endeavoured not to
catch factitious ones--that after having been fatigued with the
sight of insipid grandeur and the slavish ceremonies that with
cumbrous pomp supplied the place of domestic affections, I have
turned to some other scene to relieve my eye by resting it on the
refreshing green everywhere scattered by Nature. I have then viewed
with pleasure a woman nursing her children, and discharging the
duties of her station with perhaps merely a servant-maid to take
off her hands the servile part of the household business. I have
seen her prepare herself and children, with only the luxury of
cleanliness, to receive her husband, who, returning weary home in
the evening, found smiling babes and a clean hearth. My heart has
loitered in the midst of the group, and has even throbbed with
sympathetic emotion when the scraping of the well-known foot has
raised a pleasing tumult.
Whilst my benevolence has been gratified by contemplating this
artless picture, I have thought that a couple of this description,
equally necessary and independent of each other, because each
fulfilled the respective duties of their station, possessed all
that life could give. Raised sufficiently above abject poverty not
to be obliged to weigh the consequence of every farthing they
spend, and having sufficient to prevent their attending to
a frigid system of economy which narrows both mind, I declare, so
vulgar are my conceptions, that I know not what is wanted to render
this the happiest as well as the most respectable situation in the
world, but a taste for literature, to throw a little variety and
interest into social converse, and some superfluous money to give
to the needy and to buy books. For it is not pleasant when the
heart is opened by compassion, and the head active in arranging
plans of usefulness, to have a prim urchin continually twitching
back the elbow to prevent the hand from drawing out an almost empty
purse, whispering at the same time some prudential maxim about the
priority of justice.
Destructive, however, as riches and inherited honours are to the
human character, women are more debased and cramped, if possible,
by them than men, because men may still in some degree unfold their
faculties by becoming soldiers and statesmen. As soldiers, I grant
they can now only gather for the most part vain-glorious laurels,
whilst they adjust to a hair the European balance, taking especial
care that no bleak northern nook or sound incline the beam. But the
days of true heroism are over, when a citizen fought for his
country like a Fabricius or a Washington, and then returned to his
farm to let his virtuous fervour run in a more placid, but not a
less salutary, stream. No, our British heroes are oftener sent from
the gaming-table than from the plough; and their passions have been
rather inflamed by hanging with dumb suspense on the turn of a die,
than sublimated by panting after the adventurous march of virtue in
the historic page.
The statesman, it is true, might with more propriety quit the faro
bank, or card-table, to guide the helm, for he has still but to
shuffle and trick--the whole system of British politics, if system
it may courteously be called, consisting in multiplying dependents
and contriving taxes which grind the poor to pamper the rich. Thus
a war, or any wild-goose chase, is, as the vulgar use the phrase,
a lucky turn-up of patronage for the minister. whose chief merit is
the art of keeping himself in place. It is not necessary then that
he should have bowels for the poor, so he can secure for his family
the odd trick. or should some show of respect, for what is termed
with ignorant ostentation an Englishman's birthright, be expedient
to bubble the gruff mastiff that he has to lead by the nose, he can
make an empty show, very safely, by giving his single voice, and
suffering his light squadron to file off to the other side. And
when a question of humanity is agitated, he may dip a sop in the
milk of human kindness to silence Cerberus, and talk of the
interest which his heart takes in an attempt to make the earth no
longer cry for vengeance as it sucks in its children's blood,
though his cold hand may at the very moment rivet their chains, by
sanctioning the abominable traffic. A minister is no longer a
minister, than while he can carry a point, which he is determined
to carry. Yet it is not necessary that a minister should feel like
a man, when a bold push might shake his seat.
But, to have done with these episodical observations, let me return
to the more specious slavery which chains the very soul of woman,
keeping her for ever under the bondage of ignorance.
The preposterous distinctions of rank, which render civilisation a
curse, by dividing the world between voluptuous tyrants and cunning
envious dependents, corrupt, almost equally, every class of people,
because respectability is not attached to the discharge of the
relative duties of life, but to the station, and when the duties
are not fulfilled the affections cannot gain sufficient strength to
fortify the virtue of which they are the natural reward. Still
there are some loop-holes out of which a man may creep, and dare to
think and act for himself; but for a woman it is an herculean task,
because she has difficulties peculiar to her sex to overcome, which
require almost superhuman powers.
A truly benevolent legislator always endeavours to make it the
interest of each individual to be virtuous; and thus private virtue
becoming the cement of public happiness, an orderly whole is
consolidated by the tendency of all the parts towards a common
centre. But the private or public virtue of woman is very
problematical, for Rousseau, and a numerous list of male writers,
insist that she should all her life be subjected to a severe
restraint, that of propriety. Why subject her to propriety--blind
propriety--if she be capable of acting from a nobler spring, if she
be an heir of immortality? Is sugar always to be produced by vital
blood? Is one half of the human species, like the poor African
slaves, to be subject to prejudices that brutalise them, when
principles would be a surer guard, only to sweeten the cup of man?
Is not this indirectly to deny woman reason? for a gift is a
mockery, if it be unfit for use.
Women are, in common with men, rendered weak and luxurious by the
relaxing pleasures which wealth procures; g but added to this they
are made slaves to their persons, and must render them alluring
that man may lend them his reason to guide their tottering steps
aright. or should they be ambitious, they must govern their tyrants
by sinister tricks, for without rights there cannot be any
incumbent duties. The laws respecting woman, which I mean to
discuss in a future part, make an absurd unit of a man and his
wife; and then by the easy transition of only considering him as
responsible, she is reduced to a mere cipher.
The being who discharges the duties of its station is independent;
and, speaking of women at large, their first duty is to themselves
as rational creatures, and the next, in point of importance, as
citizens, is that, which includes so many, of a mother. The rank in
life which dispenses with their fulfilling this duty, necessarily
degrades them by making them mere dolls. or should they turn to
something more important than merely fitting drapery upon a smooth
block, their minds are only occupied by some soft platonic
attachment; or the actual management of an intrigue may keep their
thoughts in motion; for when they neglect domestic duties, they
have it not in their power to take the field and march and
counter-march like soldiers, or wrangle in the senate to keep their
faculties from rusting.
I know that, as a proof of the inferiority of the sex, Rousseau has
exultingly exclaimed, How can they leave the nursery for the camp!
And the camp has by some moralists been proved the school of the
most heroic virtues; though I think it would puzzle a keen casuist
to prove the reasonableness of the greater number of wars that have
dubbed heroes. I do not mean to consider this question critically;
because, having frequently viewed these freaks of ambition as the
first natural mode of civilisation, when the ground must be torn
up, and the woods cleared by fire and sword, I do not choose to
call them pests; but surely the present system of war has little
connection with virtue of any denomination, being rather the school
of finesse and effeminacy than of fortitude.
Yet, if defensive war, the only justifiable war, in the present
advanced state of society, where virtue can show its face and ripen
amidst the rigours which purify the air on the mountain's top, were
alone to be adopted as just and glorious, the true heroism of
antiquity might again animate female bosoms. But fair and softly,
gentle reader, male or female, do not alarm thyself, for though I
have compared the character of a modern soldier with that of a
civilised woman, I am not going to advise them to turn their
distaff into a musket, though I sincerely wish to see the bayonet
concerted into a pruning-hook. I only re-created an imagination,
fatigued by contemplating the vices and follies which all proceed
from a feculent stream of wealth that has muddied the pure rills of
natural affection, by supposing that society will some time or
other be so constituted, that man must necessarily fulfil the
duties of a citizen, or be despised, and that while he was employed
in any of the departments of civil life, his wife, also an active
citizen, should be equally intent to manage her family, educate her
children, and assist her neighbours.
But to render her really virtuous and useful, she must not, if she
discharge her civil duties, want individually the protection of
civil laws; she must not be dependent on her husband's bounty for
her subsistence during his life, or support after his death; for
how can a being be generous who has nothing of its own? or virtuous
who is not free? The wife, in the present state of things, who is
faithful to her husband, and neither suckles nor educates her
children, scarcely deserves the name of a wife, and has no right to
that of a citizen. But take away natural rights, and duties become
null.
Women then must be considered as only the wanton solace of men,
when they become so weak in mind and body that they cannot exert
themselves unless to pursue some frothy pleasure, or to invent some
frivolous fashion. What can be a more melancholy sight to a
thinking mind, than to look into the numerous carriages that drive
helter-skelter about this metropolis in a morning full of
pale-faced creatures who are flying from themselves! I have often
wished, with Dr. Johnson, to place some of them in a little shop
with half a dozen children looking up to their languid countenances
for support. I am much mistaken, if some latent vigour would not
soon give health and spirit to their eyes, and some lines drawn by
the exercise of reason on the blank cheeks, which before were only
undulated by dimples, might restore lost dignity to the character,
or rather enable it to attain the true dignity of its nature.
Virtue is not to be acquired even by speculation, much less by the
negative supineness that wealth naturally generates.
Besides, when poverty is more disgraceful than even vice, is not
morality cut to the quick? Still to avoid misconstruction, though
I consider that women in the common walks of life are called to
fulfil the duties of wives and mothers, by religion and reason, I
cannot help lamenting that women of a superior cast have not a road
open by which they can pursue more extensive plans of usefulness
and independence. I may excite laughter, by dropping an hint, which
I mean to pursue, some future time, for I really think that women
ought to have representatives, instead of being arbitrarily
governed without having any direct share allowed them in the
deliberations of government.
But, as the whole system of representation is now, in this country,
only a convenient handle for despotism, they need not complain, for
they are as well represented as a numerous class of hard-working
mechanics, who pay for the support of royalty when they can
scarcely stop their children's mouths with bread. How are they
represented whose very sweat supports the splendid stud of an
heir-apparent, or varnishes the chariot of some female favourite
who looks down on shame? Taxes on the very necessaries of life,
enable an endless tribe of idle princes and princesses to pass with
stupid pomp before a gaping crowd, who almost worship the very
parade which costs them so dear. This is mere gothic grandeur,
something like the barbarous useless parade of having sentinels on
horseback at Whitehall, which I could never view without a mixture
of contempt and indignation.
How strangely must the mind be sophisticated when this sort of
state impresses it! But, till these monuments of folly are levelled
by virtue, similar follies will leaven the whole mass. For the same
character, in some degree, will prevail in the aggregate of
society; and the refinements of luxury, or the vicious repinings of
envious poverty, will equally banish virtue from society,
considered as the characteristic of that society, or only allow it
to appear as one of the stripes of the harlequin coat, worn by the
civilised man.
In the superior ranks of life, every duty is done by deputies, as
if duties could ever be waived, and the vain pleasures which
consequent idleness forces the rich to pursue, appear so enticing
to the next rank, that the numerous scramblers for wealth sacrifice
everything to tread on their heels. The most sacred trusts are then
considered as sinecures, because they were procured by interest,
and only sought to enable a man to keep good company. Women, in
particular, all want to be ladies. Which is simply to have nothing
to do, but listlessly to go they scarcely care where, for they
cannot tell what.
But what have women to do in society? I may be asked, but to loiter
with easy grace; surely you would not condemn them all to suckle
fools and chronicle small beer! No. Women might certainly study the
art of healing, and be physicians as well as nurses. And midwifery,
decency seems to allot to them, though I am afraid, the word
midwife, in our dictionaries, will soon give p]ace to accoucheur,
and one proof of the former delicacy of the sex be effaced from the
language.
They might also study politics, and settle their benevolence on the
broadest basis; for the reading of history will scarcely be more
useful than the perusal of romances, if read as mere biography; if
the character of the times, the political improvements, arts, etc.,
be not observed. In short, if it be not considered as the history
of man; and not of particular men, who filled a niche in the temple
of fame, and dropped into the black rolling stream of time, that
silently sweeps all before it into the shapeless void
called--eternity.--For shape, can it be called, "that shape hath
none"?
Business of various kinds, they might likewise pursue, if they were
educated in a more orderly manner, which might save many from
common and legal prostitution. Women would not then marry for a
support, as men accept of places under Government, and neglect the
implied duties; nor would an attempt to earn their own subsistence,
a most laudable one! sink them almost to the level of those poor
abandoned creatures who live by prostitution. For are not milliners
and mantua-makers reckoned the next class? The few employments open
to women, so far. from being liberal, are menial; and when a
superior education enables them to take charge of the education of
children as governesses, they are not treated like the tutors of
sons, though even clerical tutors are not always treated in a
manner calculated to render them respectable in the eyes of their
pupils, to say nothing of the private comfort of the individual.
But as women educated like gentlewomen, are never designed for the
humiliating situation which necessity sometimes forces them to
fill; these situations are considered in the light of a
degradation; and they know little of the human heart, who need to
be told, that nothing so painfully sharpens sensibility as such a
fall in life.
Some of these women might be restrained from marrying by a proper
spirit of delicacy, and others may not have had it in their power
to escape in this pitiful way from servitude; is not that
Government then very defective, and very unmindful of the happiness
of one-half of is members, that does not provide for honest,
independent women, by encouraging them to fill respectable
stations? But in order to render their private virtue a public
benefit, they must have a civil existence in the State, married or
single; else we shall continually see some worthy woman, whose
sensibility has been rendered painfully acute by undeserved
contempt, droop like "the lily broken down by a plowshare."
It is a melancholy truth; yet such is the blessed effect of
civilisation! the most respectable women are the most oppressed;
and, unless they have understandings far superior to the common run
of understandings, taking in both sexes, they must, from being
treated like contemptible beings, become contemptible. How many
women thus waste life away the prey of discontent, who might have
practised as physicians, regulated a farm, managed a shop, and
stood erect, supported by their own industry, instead of hanging
their heads surcharged with the dew of sensibility, that consumes
the beauty to which it at first gave lustre; nay, I doubt whether
pity and love are so near akin as poets feign, for I have seldom
seen much compassion excited by the helplessness of females, unless
they were fair; then, perhaps, pity was the soft handmaid of love,
or the harbinger of lust.
How much more respectable is the woman who earns her own bread by
fulfilling any duty, than the most accomplished beauty!--beauty did
I say!--so sensible am I of the beauty of moral-loveliness, or the
harmonious propriety that attunes the passions of a well-regulated
mind, that I blush at making the comparison; yet I sigh to think
how few women aim at attaining this respectability by withdrawing
from the giddy whirl of pleasure, or the indolent calm that
stupefies the good sort of women it sucks in.
Proud of their weakness, however, they must always be protected,
guarded from care, and all the rough toils that dignify the mind.
If this be the fiat of fate, if they will make themselves
insignificant and contemptible, sweetly to waste "life away," let
them not expect to be valued when their beauty fades, for it is the
fate of the fairest flowers to be admired and pulled to pieces by
the careless hand that plucked them. In how many ways do I wish,
from the purest benevolence, to impress this truth on my sex; yet
I fear that they will not listen to a truth that dear bought
experience has brought home to many an agitated bosom, nor
willingly resign the privileges of rank and sex for the privileges
of humanity, to which those have no claim who do not discharge its
duties.
Those writers are particularly useful, in my opinion, who make man
feel for man, independent of the station he fills, or the drapery
of factitious sentiments. I then would fain convince reasonable men
of the importance of some of my remarks; and prevail on them to
weigh dispassionately the whole tenor of my observations. I appeal
to their understandings; and, as a fellow-creature, claim, in the
name of my sex, some interest in their hearts. I entreat them to
assist to emancipate their companion, to make her a helpmeet for
them.
Would men but generously snap our chains, and be content with
rational fellowship instead of slavish obedience, they would find
us more observant daughters, more affectionate sisters, more
faithful wives, more reasonable mothers--in a word, better
citizens. We should then love them with true affection, because we
should learn to respect ourselves; and the peace of mind of a
worthy man would not be interrupted by the idle vanity of his wife,
nor the babes sent to nestle in a strange bosom, having never found
a home in their mother's.
CHAPTER X
PARENTAL AFFECTION
Parental affection is, perhaps, the blindest modification of
perverse self-love; for we have not, like the French,[1] two terms
to distinguish the pursuit of a natural and reasonable desire, from
the ignorant calculations of weakness. Parents often love their
children in the most brutal manner, and sacrifice every relative
duty to promote their advancement in the world. To promote, such is
the perversity of unprincipled prejudices, the future welfare of
the very beings whose present existence they embitter by the most
despotic stretch of power. Power, in fact, is ever true to its
vital principle, for in every shape it should reign without control
or inquiry. Its throne is built across a dark abyss, which no eye
must dare to explore, lest the baseless fabric should totter under
investigation. obedience, unconditional obedience, is the catchword
of tyrants of every description, and to render "assurance doubly
sure," one kind of despotism supports another. Tyrants would have
cause to tremble if reason were to become the rule of duty in any
of the relations of life, for the light might spread till perfect
day appeared. And when it did appear, how would men smile at the
sight of the bugbears at which they started during the night of
ignorance, or the twilight of timid inquiry.
Parental affection, indeed, in many minds, is but a pretext to
tyrannise where it can be done with impunity, for only good and
wise men are content with the respect that will bear discussion.
Convinced that they have a right to what they insist on, they do
not fear reason, or dread the sifting of subjects that recur to
natural justice: because they firmly believe that the more
enlightened the human mind becomes the deeper root will just and
simple principles take. They do not rest in expedients, or grant
that what is metaphysically true can be practically false; but
disdaining the shifts of the moment they calmly wait till time,
sanctioning innovation, silences the hiss of selfishness or envy.
If the power of reflecting on the past, and darting the keen shall
more eye of contemplation into futurity, be the grand privilege of
man, it must be granted that some people enjoy this prerogative in
a very limited degree. Everything new appears to them wrong; and
not able to distinguish the possible from the monstrous, they fear
where no fear should find a place, running from the light of
reason, as if it were a firebrand; yet the limits of the possible
have never been defined to stop the sturdy innovator's hand.
Woman, however, a slave in every situation to prejudice, seldom
exerts enlightened maternal affection; for she either neglects her
children, or spoils them by improper indulgence. The affection of
some women for their children is, as I have before termed it,
frequently very brutish: for it eradicates every spark of humanity.
Justice, truth, everything is sacrificed by these Rebekahs, and for
the sake of their own children they violate the most sacred duties,
forgetting the common relationship that binds the whole family on
earth together. Yet, reason seems to say, that they who suffer one
duty, or affection, to swallow up the rest, have not sufficient
heart or mind to fulfil that one conscientiously. It then loses the
venerable aspect of a duty, and assumes the fantastic form of a
whim.
As the care of children in their infancy is one of the grand duties
annexed to the female character by nature, this duty would afford
many forcible arguments for strengthening the female understanding,
if it were properly considered.
The formation of the mind must be begun very early, and the temper,
in particular, requires the most judicious attention--an attention
which woman cannot pay who only love their children because they
are their children, and seek no further for the foundation of their
duty, than in the feelings of the moment. It is this want of reason
in their affections which makes women so often run into extremes,
and either be the most fond or most careless and unnatural mothers.
To be a good mother, a woman must have sense, and that independence
of mind which few women possess who are taught to depend entirely
on their husbands. Meek wives are, in general, foolish mothers;
wanting their children to love them best, and take their part, in
secret, against the father, who is held up as a scarecrow. When
chastisement is necessary, though they have offended the mother,
the father must inflict the punishment; he must be the judge in all
disputes; but fully discuss this subject when I treat of private
education. I now only mean to insist, that unless the understanding
of woman be enlarged, and her character rendered more firm, by
being allowed to govern her own conduct, she will never have
sufficient sense or command of temper to manage her children
properly. Her parental affection, indeed, scarcely deserves the
name, when it does not lead her to suckle her children, because the
discharge of this duty is equally calculated to inspire maternal
and filial affection: and it is the indispensable duty of men and
women to fulfil the duties which give birth to affections that are
the surest preservatives against vice. Natural affection, as it is
termed, I believe to be a very faint tie, affections must grow out
of the habitual exercise of a mutual sympathy; and what sympathy
does a mother exercise who sends her babe to a nurse, and only
takes it from a nurse to send it to a school?
In the exercise of their maternal feelings Providence has furnished
women with a natural substitute for love, when the lover becomes
only a friend, and mutual confidence takes place of overstrained
admiration--a child then gently twists the relaxing cord, and a
mutual care produces a new mutual sympathy. But a child, though a
pledge of affection, will not if both father and mother be content
to transfer to hirelings; for they who do their duty by proxy
murmur if they miss the reward of duty--parental affection produces
filial duty.
NOTES
[1] L'amour propre. L'amour de soi meme.
CHAPTER XI
DUTY TO PARENTS
There seems to be an indolent propensity in man to make
prescription always take place of reason, and to place every duty
on an arbitrary foundation. The rights of kings are deduced in a
direct line from the King of kings, and that of parents from our
first parent.
Why do we thus go back for principles that should always rest on
the same base, and have the same weight to-day that they had a
thousand years ago--and not a jot more ? If parents discharge their
duty they have a strong hold and sacred claim on the gratitude of
their children, but few parents are willing to receive the
respectful affection of their offspring on such terms. They demand
blind obedience, because they do not merit a reasonable service:
and to render these demands of weakness and ignorance more binding,
a mysterious sanctity is spread round the most arbitrary principle;
for what other name can be given to the blind duty of obeying
vicious or weak beings merely because they obeyed a powerful
instinct?
The simple definition of the reciprocal duty which naturally
subsists between parent and child may be given in a few words. The
parent who pays proper attention to helpless infancy has a right to
require the same attention when the feebleness of age comes upon
him. But to subjugate a rational being to the mere will of another,
after he is of age to answer to society for his own conduct, is a
most cruel and undue stretch of- power, and perhaps as injurious to
morality as those religious systems which do not allow right and
wrong to have any existence, but in the Divine will.
I never knew a parent who had paid more than common attention to
his children disregarded.[1] on the contrary, the early habit of
relying almost implicitly on the opinion of a respected parent is
not easily shook, even when matured reason convinces the child that
his father is not the wisest man in the world. This weakness--for
a weakness it is, though the epithet amiable may be tacked to it--a
reasonable man must steel himself against; for the absurd duty, too
often inculcated, of obeying a parent only on account of his being
a parent, shackles the mind, and prepares it for a slavish
submission to any power but reason.
I distinguish between the natural and accidental duty due to
parents.
The parent who sedulously endeavours to form the heart, and enlarge
the understanding of his child, has given that dignity to the
discharge of a duty, common to the whole animal world, that only
reason can give. This is the parental affection of humanity, and
leaves instinctive natural affection far behind. Such a parent
acquires all the rights of the most sacred friendship, and his
advice, even when his child is advanced in life, demands serious
consideration.
With respect to marriage, though after one-and-twenty a parent
seems to have no right to withhold his consent on any account, yet
twenty years of solicitude call for a return, and the son ought at
least to promise not to marry for two or three years, should the
object of his choice not entirely meet with the approbation of his
first friend.
But respect for parents is, generally speaking, a much more
debasing principle; it is only a selfish respect for property. The
father who is blindly obeyed is obeyed from sheer weakness, or from
motives that degrade the human character.
A great proportion of the misery that wanders in hideous forms
around the world is allowed to rise from the negligence of parents;
and still these are the people who are most tenacious of what they
term a natural right, though it be subversive of the birthright of
man, the right of acting according to the direction of his own
reason.
I have already very frequently had occasion to observe that vicious
or indolent people are always eager to profit by enforcing
arbitrary privileges, and generally in the same proportion as they
neglect the discharge of the duties which alone render the
privileges reasonable. This is at the bottom a dictate of common
sense, or the instinct of self-defence, peculiar to ignorant
weakness, resembling that instinct which makes a fish muddy the
water it swims in to elude its enemy, instead of boldly facing it
in the clear stream.
From the clear stream of argument indeed the supporters of
prescription of every denomination fly; and taking refuge in the
darkness, which, in the language of sublime poetry, has been
supposed to surround the throne of omnipotence, they dare to demand
that implicit respect which is only due to His unsearchable ways.
But let me not be thought presumptuous; the darkness which hides
our God from us only respects speculative truths. It never obscures
moral ones; they shine clearly, for God is light, and never, by the
constitution of our nature, requires the discharge of a duty, the
reasonableness of which does not beam on us when we open our eyes.
The indolent parent of high rank may, it is true, extort a show of
respect from his child, and females on the Continent are
particularly subject to the views of their families, who never
think of consulting their inclination, or providing for the comfort
of the poor victims of their pride. The consequence is notorious:
these dutiful daughters become adulteresses, and neglect the
education of their children, from whom they, in their turn, exact
the same kind of obedience.
Females, it is true, in all countries are too much under the
dominion of their parents; and few parents think of addressing
their children in the following manner, though it is in this
reasonable way that Heaven seems to command the whole human
race:--It is your interest to obey me till you can judge for
yourself; and the Almighty Father of all has implanted an affection
in me to serve as a guard to you whilst your reason is unfolding;
but when your mind arrives at maturity, you must only obey me, or
rather respect my opinions, so far as they coincide with the light
that is breaking in on your own mind.
A slavish bondage to parents cramps every faculty of the mind; and
Mr. Locke very judiciously observes, that "if the mind be curbed
and humbled too much in children; if their spirits be abased and
broken much by too strict an hand over them, they lose all their
vigour and industry." This strict hand may in some degree account
for the weakness of women; for girls, from various causes, are more
kept down by their parents, in every sense of the word, than boys.
The duty expected from them is, like all the duties arbitrarily
imposed on women, more from a sense of propriety, more out of
respect for decorum, than reason; and thus taught slavishly to
submit to their parents, they are prepared for the slavery of
marriage. I may be told that a number of women are not slaves in
the marriage state. True, but they then become tyrants; for it is
not rational freedom, but a lawless kind of power, resembling the
authority exercised by the favourites of absolute monarchs, which
they obtain by debasing means. I do not likewise dream of
insinuating that either boys or girls are always slaves. I only
insist that when they are obliged to submit to authority blindly
their faculties are weakened, and their tempers rendered imperious
or abject. I also lament that parents, indolently availing
themselves of a supposed privilege, damp the first faint glimmering
of reason, rendering at the same time the duty, which they are so
anxious to enforce, an empty name; because they will not let it
rest on the only basis on which a duty can rest securely; for
unless it be founded on knowledge, it cannot gain sufficient
strength to resist the squalls of passion, or the silent sapping of
self-love. But it is not the parents who have given the surest
proof of their affection for their children, or, to speak more
properly. who, by fulfilling their duty, have allowed a natural
parental affection to take root in their hearts, the child of
exercised sympathy and reason, and not the overweening offspring of
selfish pride, who most vehemently insist on their children
submitting to their will merely because it is their will. On the
contrary, the parent who sets a good example, patiently lets that
example work, and it seldom fails to produce its natural
effect--filial reverence.
Children cannot be taught too early to submit to reason-- the true
definition of that necessity which Rousseau insisted on, without
defining it; for to submit to reason is to submit to the nature of
things, and to that God who formed them so, to promote our real
interest.
Why should the minds of children be warped as they just begin to
expand, only to favour the indolence of parents who insist on a
privilege without being willing to pay the price fixed by Nature?
I have before had occasion to observe that a right always includes
a duty, and I think it may likewise fairly be inferred that they
forfeit the right who do not fulfil the duty.
It is easier, I grant, to command than reason; but it does not
follow from hence that children cannot comprehend the reason why
they are made to do certain things habitually: for from a steady
adherence to a few simple principles of conduct flows that salutary
power which a judicious parent gradually gains over a child's mind.
And this power becomes strong indeed, if tempered by an even
display of affection brought home to the child's heart. For, I
believe, as a general rule, It must be allowed that the affection
which we inspire always resembles that we cultivate; so that
natural affections, which have been supposed almost distinct from
reason, may be found more nearly connected with judgment than is
commonly allowed. Nay, as another proof of the necessity of
cultivating the female understanding, it is but just to observe,
that the affections seem to have a kind of animal capriciousness
when they merely reside in the heart.
It is the irregular exercise of parental authority that first
injures the mind, and to these irregularities girls are more
subject than boys. The will of those who never allow their will to
be disputed, unless they happen to be in a good humour, when they
relax proportionally, is almost always unreasonable. To elude this
arbitrary authority girls very early learn the lessons which they
afterwards practise on their husbands; for I have frequently seen
a little sharp-faced miss rule a whole family, excepting that now
and then mamma's anger will burst out of some accidental
cloud;--either her hair was ill-dressed,[2] or she had lost more
money at cards, the night before, than she was willing to own to
her husband; or some such moral cause of anger.
After observing sallies of this kind, I have been led into a
melancholy train of reflection respecting females, concluding that
when their first affection must lead them astray, or make their
duties clash till they rest on mere whims and customs, little can
be expected from them as they advance in life. How, indeed, can an
instructor remedy this evil? for to teach them virtue on any solid
principle is to teach them to despise their parents. Children
cannot, ought not, to be taught to make allowance for the faults of
their parents, because every such allowance weakens the force of
reason in their minds, and makes them still more indulgent to their
own. It is one of the most sublime virtues of maturity that leads
us to be severe with respect to ourselves, and forbearing to
others; but children should only be taught the simple virtues, for
if they begin too early to make allowance for human passions and
manners, they wear off the fine edge of the criterion by which they
should regulate their own, and become unjust in the same proportion
as they grow indulgent.
The affections of children, and weak people, are always selfish;
they love their relatives, because they are beloved by them, not on
account of their virtues. Yet, till esteem and love are blended
together in the first affection, and reason made the foundation of
the first duty, morality will stumble at the threshold. But, till
society is very differently constituted, parents, I fear, will
still insist on being obeyed, because they will be obeyed, and
constantly endeavour to settle that power on a Divine right which
will not bear the investigation of reason.
NOTES
[1] Dr. Johnson makes the same observation.
[2] I myself heard a little girl once say to a servant, "My mamma
has been scolding me finely this morning, because her hair was not
dressed to please her." Though this remark was pert, it was just.
And what respect could a girl acquire for such a parent without
doing violence to reason?
CHAPTER XII
ON NATIONAL EDUCATION
The good effects resulting from attention to private education will
ever be very confined, and the parent who really puts his own hand
to the plough, will always, in some degree, be disappointed, till
education becomes a grand national concern. A man cannot retire
into a desert with his child, and if he did he could not bring
himself back to childhood, and become the proper friend and
playfellow of an infant or youth. And when children are confined to
the society of men and women, they very soon acquire that kind of
premature manhood which stops the growth of every vigorous power of
mind or body. In order to open their faculties they should be
excited to think for themselves; and this can only be done by
mixing a number of children together, and making them jointly
pursue the same objects.
A child very soon contracts a benumbing indolence of mind, which he
has seldom sufficient vigour afterwards to shake off, when he only
asks a question instead of seeking for information, and then relies
implicitly on the answer he receives. With his equals in age this
could never be the case, and the subjects of inquiry, though they
might be influenced, would not be entirely under the direction of
men, who frequently damp, if not destroy, abilities, by bringing
them forward too hastily: and too hastily they will infallibly be
brought forward, if the child be confined to the society of a man,
however sagacious that man may be.
Besides, in you the seeds of every affection should be sown, and
the respectful regard, which is felt for a parent, is very
different from the social affections that arc to constitute the
happiness of life as it advances. Of these equality is the basis,
and an intercourse of sentiments unclogged by that observant
seriousness which prevents disputation, though it may not enforce
submission. Let a child have ever such an affection for his parent,
he will always languish to play and prattle with children; and the
very respect he feels, for filial esteem always has a dash of fear
mixed with it, will, if it do not teach him cunning, at least
prevent him from pouring out the little secrets which first open
the heart to friendship and confidence, gradually leading to more
expansive benevolence. Added to this, he will never acquire that
frank ingenuousness of behaviour, which young people can only
attain by being frequently in society where they dare to speak what
they think; neither afraid of being reproved for their presumption,
nor laughed at for their folly.
Forcibly impressed by the reflections which the sight of schools,
as they are at present conducted, naturally suggested, I have
formerly delivered my opinion rather warmly in favour of a private
education; but further experience has led me to view the subject in
a different light. I still, however, think schools, as they are now
regulated, the hot-beds of vice and folly, and the knowledge of
human nature, supposed to be attained there, merely cunning
selfishness.
At school boys become gluttons and slovens, and, instead of
cultivating domestic affections, very early rush into the
libertinism which destroys the constitution before it is formed;
hardening the heart as it weakens the understanding.
I should, in fact, be averse to boarding-schools, if it were for no
other reason than the unsettled state of mind which the expectation
of the vacations produces. on these the children's thoughts are
fixed with eager anticipating hopes, for, at least, to speak with
moderation, half of the time, and when they arrive they are spent
in total dissipation and beastly indulgence.
But, on the contrary, when they are brought up at home, though they
may pursue a plan of study in a more orderly manner than can be
adopted when near a fourth part of the year is actually spent in
idleness, and as much more in regret and anticipation; yet they
there acquire too high an opinion of their own importance, from
birth, allowed to tyrannise over servants, and from the anxiety
expressed by most mothers, on the score of manners, who, eager to
teach the accomplishments of a gentleman, stifle, in their birth,
the virtues of a man. Thus brought into company when they ought to
be seriously employed, and treated like men when they are still
boys, they become vain and effeminate.
The only way to avoid two extremes equally injurious to morality
would be to contrive some way of combining a public and private
education. Thus to make men citizens two natural steps might be
taken, which seem directly to lead to the desired point; for the
domestic affections, that first open the heart to the various
modifications of humanity, would be cultivated, whilst the children
were nevertheless allowed to spend great part of their time, on
terms of equality, with other children.
I still recollect, with pleasure, the country day-school; where a
boy trudged in the morning, wet or dry, carrying his books, and his
dinner, if it were at a considerable distance; a servant did not
then lead master by the hand, for, when he had once put on coat and
breeches, he was allowed to shift for himself, and return alone in
the evening to recount the feats of the day close at the parental
knee. His father's house was his home, and was ever after fondly
remembered; nay, I appeal to many superior men, who were educated
in this manner, whether the recollection of some shady lane where
they conned their lesson; or, of some stile, where they sat making
a kite, or mending a bat, has not endeared their country to them?
But, what boy ever recollected with pleasure the years he spent in
close confinement, at an academy near London? unless, indeed, he
should, by chance, remember the poor scarecrow of an usher, whom he
tormented; or, the tartman, from whom he caught a cake, to devour
it with a cattish appetite of selfishness At boarding-schools of
every description, the relaxation of the junior boys is mischief;
and of the senior, vice. Besides, in great schools, what can be
more prejudicial to the moral character than the system of tyranny
and abject slavery which is established amongst the boys, to say
nothing of the slavery to forms, which makes religion worse than a
farce? For what good can be expected from the youth who receives
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to avoid forfeiting half a
guinea, which he probably afterwards spends in some sensual manner?
Half the employment of the youths is to elude the necessity of
attending public worship; and well they may, for such a constant
repetition of the same thing must be a very irksome restraint on
their natural vivacity. As these ceremonies have the most fatal
effect on their morals, and as a ritual performed by the lips, when
the heart and mind are far away, is not now stored up by our Church
as a bank to draw on for the fees of the poor souls in purgatory,
why should they not be abolished?
But the fear of innovation, in this country, extends to everything.
This is only a covert fear, the apprehensive timidity of indolent
slugs, who guard, by sliming it over, the snug place, which they
consider in the light of an hereditary estate; and eat, drink, and
enjoy themselves, instead of fulfilling the duties, excepting a few
empty forms, for which it was endowed. These are the people who
most strenuously insist on the will of the founder being observed,
crying out against all reformation, as ;f it were a violation of
justice. I am now alluding particularly to the relics of Popery
retained in our colleges, when the Protestant members seem to be
such sticklers for the Established Church; but their zeal never
makes them lose sight of the spoil of ignorance, which rapacious
priests of superstitious memory have scraped together. No, wise in
their generation, they venerate the prescriptive right of
possession, as a stronghold, and still let the sluggish bell tinkle
to prayers, as during the days when the elevation of the host was
supposed to atone for the sins of the people, lest one reformation
should lead to another, and the spirit kill the letter. These
Romish customs have the most baneful effect on the morals of our
clergy; for the idle vermin who two or three times a day perform in
the most slovenly manner a service which they think useless, but
call their duty, soon lose a sense of duty. At college, forced to
attend or evade public worship, they acquire an habitual contempt
for the very service, the performance of which is to enable them to
live in idleness. It is mumbled over as an affair of business, as
a stupid boy repeats his talk, and frequently the college cant
escapes from the preacher the moment after he has left the pulpit,
and even whilst he is eating the dinner which he earned in such a
dishonest manner.
Nothing, indeed, can be more irreverent than the cathedral service
as it is now performed in this country, neither does it contain a
set of weaker men than those who are the slaves of this childish
routine. A disgusting skeleton of the former state is still
exhibited; but all the solemnity that interested the imagination,
if it did not purify the heart, is stripped off. The performance of
high mass on the Continent must impress every mind, where a spark
of fancy glows, with that awful melancholy, that sublime
tenderness, so near akin to devotion. I do not say that these
devotional feelings are of more use, in a moral sense, than any
other emotion of taste; but I contend that the theatrical pomp
which gratifies our senses, is to be preferred to the cold parade
that insults the understanding without reaching the heart.
Amongst remarks on national education, such observations cannot be
misplaced, especially as the supporters of these establishments,
degenerated into puerilities, affect to be the champions of
religion. Religion, pure source of comfort in this vale of tears!
how has thy clear stream been muddied by the dabblers, who have
presumptuously endeavoured to confine in one narrow channel, the
living waters that ever flow towards God--the sublime ocean of
existence! What would life be without that peace which the love of
God, when built on humanity, alone can impart? Every earthly
affection turns back, at intervals, to prey upon the heart that
feeds it; and the purest effusions of benevolence, often rudely
damped by man, must mount as a free-will offering to Him who gave
them birth, whose bright image they faintly reflect.
In public schools, however, religion, confounded with irk- some
ceremonies and unreasonable restraints, assumes the most ungracious
aspect: not the sober austere one that commands respect whilst it
inspires fear; but a ludicrous cast, that serves to point a pun.
For, in fact, most of the good stories and smart things will
enliven the spirits that have been concentrated at whist, are
manufactured out of the incidents to which the very men labour to
give a droll turn who countenance the abuse to live on the spoil.
There is not, perhaps, in the kingdom, a more dogmatical, or
luxurious set of men, than the pedantic tyrants who reside in
colleges and preside at public schools. The vacations are equally
injurious to the morals of the masters and pupils, and the
intercourse, which the former keep up with the nobility, introduces
the same vanity and extravagance into their families, which banish
domestic duties and comforts from the lordly mansion, whose state
is awkwardly aped. The boys, who live at a great expense with the
masters and assistants, are never domesticated, though placed there
for that purpose; for, after a silent dinner, they swallow a hasty
glass of wine, and retire to plan some mischievous trick, or to
ridicule the person or manners of the very people they have just
been cringing to, and. whom they ought to consider as the
representatives of their parents.
Can it then be a matter of surprise that boys become selfish and
vicious who are thus shut out from social converse? or that a mitre
often graces the brow of one of these diligent pastors?
The desire of living in the same style, as the rank just above
them, infects each individual and every class of people, and
meanness is the concomitant of this ignoble ambition; but those
professions are most debasing whose ladder is patronage; yet, out
of one of these professions the tutors of youth are, in general,
chosen. But, can they be expected to inspire independent
sentiments, whose conduct must be regulated by the cautious
prudence that is ever on the watch for preferment?
So far, however, from thinking of the morals of boys, I have heard
several masters of schools argue, that they only undertook to teach
Latin and Greek; and that they had fulfilled their duty, by sending
some good scholars to college.
A few good scholars, I grant, may have been formed by emulation and
discipline; but, to bring forward these clever boys, the health and
morals of a number have been sacrificed. The sons of our gentry and
wealthy commoners are mostly educated at these seminaries, and will
anyone pretend to assert that the majority, making every allowance,
come under the description of tolerable scholars?
It is not for the benefit of society that a few brilliant men
should be brought forward at the expense of the multitude. It is
true, that great men seem to start up, as great revolutions occur,
at proper intervals, to restore order, and to blow aside the clouds
that thicken over the face of truth; but let more reason and virtue
prevail in society, and these strong winds would not be necessary.
Public education, of every denomination, should be directed to form
citizens; but if you wish to make good citizens, you must first
exercise the affections of a son and a brother. This is the only
way to expand the heart; for public affections, as well as public
virtues, must ever grow out of the private character, or they are
merely meteors that shoot athwart a dark sky, and disappear as they
are gazed at and admired.
Few, I believe, have had much affection for mankind, who did not
first love their parents, their brothers, sisters, and even the
domestic brutes, whom they first played with. The exercise of
youthful sympathies forms the moral temperature; and it is the
recollection of these first affections and pursuits that gives life
to those that are afterwards more under the direction of reason. In
youth, the fondest friendships are formed, the genial juices
mounting at the same time, kindly mix; or, rather the heart,
tempered for the reception of friendship, is accustomed to seek for
pleasure in something more noble than the churlish ratification of
appetite.
In order then to inspire a love of home and domestic pleasures,
children ought to be educated at home for riotous holidays only
make them fond of home for their own sakes. Yet, the vacations,
which do not foster domestic affections, continually disturb the
course of study, and render any plan of improvement abortive which
includes temperance; still, were they abolished, children would be
entirely separated from their parents, and I question whether they
would become better citizens by sacrificing the preparatory
affections, by destroying the force of relationships that render
the marriage state as necessary as respectable. But, if a private
education produce self-importance, or insulate a man in his family,
the evil is only shifted, not remedied.
This train of reasoning brings me back to a subject, on which mean
to dwell, the necessity of establishing proper day-schools.
But, these should be national establishments, for whilst
schoolmasters are dependent on the caprice of parents, little
exertion can be expected from them, more than is necessary to
please ignorant people. Indeed, the necessity of a master's giving
the parents some sample of the boy's abilities, which during the
vacation is shown to every visitor,[1] is productive of more
mischief than would at first be supposed. For it is seldom done
entirely, to speak with moderation, by the child itself; thus the
master countenances falsehood, or winds the poor machine up to some
extraordinary exertion, that injures the wheels, and stops the
progress of gradual improvement. The memory is loaded with
unintelligible words, to make a show of, without the
understanding's acquiring any distinct ideas: but only that
education deserves emphatically to be termed cultivation of mind,
which teaches young people how to begin to think. The imagination
should not be allowed to debauch the understanding before it gained
strength, or vanity will become the forerunner of vice: for every
way of exhibiting the acquirements of a child is injurious to its
moral character.
How much time is lost in teaching them to recite what they do not
understand? whilst, seated on benches, all in their best array, the
mammas listen with astonishment to the parrot like prattle, uttered
in solemn cadences, with all the pomp of ignorance and folly. Such
exhibitions only serve to strike the spreading fibres of vanity
through the whole mind; for they neither teach children to speak
fluently, nor behave gracefully. So far from it, that these
frivolous pursuits might comprehensively be termed the study of
affectation; for we now rarely see a simple, bashful boy, though
few people of taste were ever disgusted by that awkward
sheepishness so natural to the age which schools and an early
introduction into society, have changed into impudence and apish
grimace.
Yet, how can these things be remedied whilst schoolmaster depend
entirely on parents for a subsistence; and, when so many rival
schools hang out their lures, to catch the attention of vain
fathers and mothers, whose parental affection only leads them to
wish that their children should outshine those of their neighbours?
Without great good luck, a sensible, conscientious man, would
starve before he could raise a school, if he disdained to bubble
weak parents by practising the secret tricks of the craft.
In the best regulated schools, however, where swarms are not
crammed together, many bad habits must be acquired; but, at common
schools, the body, heart, and understanding, are equally stunted,
for parents are often only in quest of the cheapest school, and the
master could not live, if he did not take a much greater number
than he could manage himself; nor will the scanty pittance, allowed
for each child, permit him to hire ushers sufficient to assist in
the discharge of the mechanical part of the business. Besides,
whatever appearance the house and garden may make, the children do
not enjoy the comfort of either, for they are continually reminded
by irksome restrictions that they are not at home, and the
state-rooms, garden, etc., must be kept in order for the recreation
of the parents; who, of a Sunday, visit the school, and are
impressed by the very parade that renders the situation of their
children uncomfortable.
With what disgust have I heard sensible women, for girls are more
restrained and cowed than boys, speak of the wearisome confinement,
which they endured at school. Not allowed, perhaps, to step out of
one broad walk in a superb garden, and obliged to pace with steady
deportment stupidly backwards and forwards, holding up their heads
and turning out their toes, with shoulders braced back, instead of
bounding, as nature directs to complete her own design, in the
various attitudes so conducive to health.[2] The pure animal
spirits, which make both mind and body shoot out, and unfold the
tender blossoms of hope, are turned sour, and vented in vain wishes
or pert repinings, that contract the faculties and spoil the
temper; else they mount to the brain, and sharpening the
understanding before it gains proportionable strength, produce that
pitiful cunning which disgracefully characterises the female mind--
and I fear will ever characterise it whilst women remain the slaves
of power!
The little respect paid to chastity in the male world is, I am
persuaded, the grand source of many of the physical and moral evils
that torment mankind, as well as of the vices and follies that
degrade and destroy women; yet, at school, boys infallibly lose
that decent bashfulness, which might have ripened into modesty, at
home.
And what nasty indecent tricks do they not also learn from each
other, when a number of them pig together in the same bedchamber,
not to speak of the vices, which render the body weak, whilst they
effectually prevent the acquisition of any delicacy of mind. The
little attention paid to the cultivation of modesty, amongst men,
produces great depravity in all the relationships of society; for,
not only love--love that ought to purify the heart, and first call
forth all the youthful powers, to prepare the man to discharge the
benevolent duties of life, is sacrificed to premature lust; but,
all the social affections are deadened by the selfish
gratifications, which very early pollute the mind, and dry up the
generous juices of the heart. In what an unnatural manner is
innocence often violated; and what serious consequences ensue to
render private vices a public pest. Besides, an habit of personal
order, which has more effect on the moral character, than is, in
general, supposed, can only be acquired at home, where that
respectable reserve is kept up which checks the familiarity that,
sinking into beastliness, undermines the affection it insults.
I have already animadverted on the bad habits which females acquire
when they are shut up together; and, I think, that the observation
may fairly be extended to the other sex, till the natural inference
is drawn which I have had in view throughout--that to improve both
sexes they ought, not only in private families, but in public
schools, to be educated together. If marriage be the cement of
society, mankind should all be educated after the same model, or
the intercourse of the sexes will never deserve the name of
fellowship, nor will women ever fulfil the peculiar duties of their
sex, till they become enlightened citizens, till they become free
by being enabled to earn their own subsistence, independent of men;
in the same manner, I mean, to prevent misconstruction, as one man
is independent of another. Nay, marriage will never be held sacred
till women, by being brought up with men, are prepared to be their
companions rather than their mistresses; for the mean doublings of
cunning will ever render them contemptible, whilst oppression
renders them timid. So convinced am I of this truth, that I will
venture to predict that virtue will never prevail in society till
the virtues of both sexes are founded on reason; and, till the
affections common to both are allowed to gain their due strength by
the discharge of mutual duties.
Were boys and girls permitted to pursue the same studies together,
those graceful decencies might early be inculcated which produce
modesty without those sexual distinctions that taint the mind.
Lessons of politeness, and that formulary of decorum, which treads
on the heels of falsehood, would be rendered useless by habitual
propriety of behaviour. Not indeed put on for visitors, like the
courtly robe of politeness, but the sober effect of cleanliness of
mind. Would not this simple elegance of sincerity be a chaste
homage paid to domestic affections, far surpassing the
meretricious compliments that shine with false lustre in the
heartless intercourse of fashionable life? But till more
understanding preponderates in society, there will ever be a want
of heart and taste, and the harlot's rouge will supply the place of
that celestial suffusion which only virtuous affections can give
to the face. Gallantry, and what is called love, may subsist
without simplicity of character but the main pillars of friendship
are respect and confidence--esteem is never founded on it cannot
tell what!
A taste for the fine arts requires great cultivation, but not more
than a taste for the virtuous affections, and both suppose that
enlargement of mind which opens so many sources of mental pleasure.
Why do people hurry to noisy scenes and crowded circles? I should
answer, because they want activity of mind, because they have not
cherished the virtues of the heart. They only therefore see and
feel in the gross, and continually pine after variety, finding
everything that is simple insipid.
This argument may be carried further than philosophers are rare of,
for if nature destined woman, in particular, for the discharge of
domestic duties, she made her susceptible of the attached
affections in a great degree. Now women are notoriously fond of
pleasure, and naturally must be so according to my definition,
because they cannot enter into the minutia of domestic taste,
lacking judgment, the foundation of all taste; for the
understanding, in spite of sensual cavillers, reserves to itself
the privilege of conveying pure joy to the heart.
With what a languid yawn have I seen an admirable poem thrown down
that a man of true taste returns to again and again with rapture;
and whilst melody has almost suspended respiration, a lady has
asked me where I bought my gown. I have seen also an eye glanced
coldly over a most exquisite picture rest, sparkling with pleasure,
on a caricature rudely sketched; and whilst some terrific feature
in nature has spread a sublime stillness through my soul, I have
been desired to observe the pretty tricks of a lap-dog that my
perverse fate forced me to travel with. Is it surprising that such
a tasteless being should rather caress this dog than her children?
Or that she should prefer the rant of flattery to the simple
accents of sincerity?
To illustrate this remark I must be allowed to observe that men of
the first genius and most cultivated minds have appeared to have
the highest relish for the simple beauties of nature; and they must
have forcibly felt, what they have so well described, the charm
which natural affections and unsophisticated feelings spread round
the human character. It is this power of looking into the heart,
and responsively vibrating with each emotion, that enables the poet
to personify each passion, and the painter to sketch with a pencil
of fire.
True taste is ever the work of the understanding employed in
observing natural effects; and till women have more understanding,
it is vain to expect them to possess domestic taste. Their lively
senses will ever be at work to harden their hearts, and the
emotions struck out of them will continue to be vivid and
transitory, unless a proper education store their mind with
knowledge.
It is the want of domestic taste, and not the acquirement of
knowledge, that takes women out of their families, and tears the
smiling babe from the breast that ought to afford it nourishment.
Women have been allowed to remain in ignorance and slavish
dependence many, very many, years, and still we hear of nothing but
their fondness of pleasure and sway, their preference of rakes and
soldiers, their childish attachment to toys, and the vanity that
makes them value accomplishments more than virtues.
History brings forward a fearful catalogue of the crimes which
their cunning has produced, when the weak slaves nave had
sufficient address to overreach their masters. In France, and in
how many other countries, have men been the luxurious despots, and
women the crafty ministers? Does this prove that ignorance and
dependence domesticate them? Is not their folly the byword of the
libertines, who relax in their society? and do not men of sense
continually lament that an immoderate fondness for dress and
dissipation carries the mother of a family for ever from home?
Their hearts have not been debauched by knowledge, or their minds
led away by scientific pursuits, yet they do not fulfil the
peculiar duties which, as women, they are called upon by Nature to
fulfil. On the contrary, the state of warfare which subsists
between the sexes makes them employ those wiles that often
frustrate the more open designs of force.
When therefore I call women slaves, I mean in a political and civil
sense; for indirectly they obtain too much power, and are debased
by their exertions to obtain illicit sway.
Let an enlightened nation [3] then try what effect reason would
have to bring them back to nature, and their duty; and allowing
them to share the advantages of education and government with man,
see whether they will become better, as they grow wiser and become
free. They cannot be injured by the experiment, for it is not in
the power of man to render them more insignificant than they are at
present.
To render this practicable, day-schools for particular ares should
be established by Government, in which boys and girls might be
educated together. The school for the younger children, from five
to nine years of age, ought to be absolutely free and open to all
classes.[4] A sufficient number of masters should also be chosen by
a select committee in each parish, to whom any complaint of
negligence, etc., might be made, if signed by six of the children's
parents.
Ushers would then be unnecessary; for I believe experience will
ever prove that this kind of subordinate authority is particularly
injurious to the morals of youth. What, indeed, can tend to deprave
the character more than outward submission and inward contempt? Yet
how can boys be expected to treat an usher with respect, when the
master seems to consider him in the light of a servant, and almost
to countenance the ridicule which becomes the chief amusement of
the boys during the play hours?
But nothing of this kind could occur in an elementary day school,
where boys and girls, the rich and poor, should meet together. And
to prevent any of the distinctions of vanity, they should be
dressed alike, and all obliged to submit to the same discipline, or
leave the school. The schoolroom ought to be surrounded by a large
piece of ground, in which the children might be usefully exercised,
for at this age they should not be confined to any sedentary
employment for more than an hour at a time. But these relaxations
might all be rendered a part of elementary education, for many
things improve and amuse the senses, when introduced as a kind of
show, to the principles of which, dryly laid down, children would
turn a deaf ear. For instance, botany, mechanics, and astronomy;
reading, writing, arithmetic, natural history, and some simple
experiments in natural philosophy, might fill up the day; but these
pursuits should never encroach on gymnastic plays in the open air.
The elements of religion, history, the history of man, and
politics, might also be taught by conversations in the Socratic
form.
After the age of nine, girls and boys, intended for domestic
employments, or mechanical trades, ought to be removed to other
schools, and receive instruction in some measure appropriated to
the destination of each individual, the two sexes being still
together in the morning; but in the afternoon the girls should
attend a school, where plain work, mantua-making, millinery, etc.,
would be their employment.
The young people of superior abilities, or fortune, might now be
taught, in another school, the dead and living languages, the
elements of science, and continue the study of history and
politics, on a more extensive scale, which would not exclude polite
literature.
Girls and boys still together? I hear some readers ask. Yes. And I
should not fear any other consequence than that some early
attachment might take place; which, whilst it had the best effect
on the moral character of the young people, might not perfectly
agree with the views of the parents, for it will be a long time, I
fear, before the world will be so far enlightened that parents,
only anxious to render their children virtuous, shall allow them to
choose companions for life themselves.
Besides, this would be a sure way to promote early marriages, from
early marriages the most salutary physical and moral effects
naturally flow. What a different character does a married citizen
assume from the selfish coxcomb, who lives but for himself, and who
is often afraid to marry lest he should not be able to live in a
certain style. Great emergencies excepted, which would rarely occur
in a society of which equality was the basis, a man can only be
prepared to discharge the duties of public life, by the habitual
practice of those inferior ones which form the man.
In this plan of education the constitution of boys would not be
ruined by the early debaucheries, which now make men so selfish, or
girls rendered weak and vain, by indolence, and frivolous pursuits.
But, I presuppose, that such a degree of equality should be
established between the sexes as would shut out gallantry and
coquetry, yet allow friendship and love to temper the heart for the
discharge of higher duties.
These would be schools of morality--and the happiness of man,
allowed to flow from the pure springs of duty and affection, what
advances might not the human mind make? Society can only be happy
and free in proportion as it is virtuous; but the present
distinctions, established in society, corrode all private, and
blast all public virtue.
I have already inveighed against the custom of confining girls to
their needle, and shutting them out from all political and civil
employments; for by thus narrowing their minds they are rendered
unfit to fulfil the peculiar duties which Nature has assigned them.
Only employed about the little incidents of the day, they
necessarily grow up cunning. My very soul has often sickened at
observing the sly tricks practised by women to gain some foolish
thing on which their silly hearts were set. Not allowed to dispose
of money, or call anything their own, they learn to turn the market
penny; or, should a husband offend, by staying from home, or give
rise to some emotions of jealousy--a new gown, or any pretty
bauble, smooths Juno's angry brow.
But these littlenesses would not degrade their character, if women
were led to respect themselves, if political and moral subjects
were opened to them; and, I will venture to affirm, that this is
the only way to make them properly attentive to their domestic
duties. An active mind embraces the whole circle of its duties, and
finds time enough for all. It is not, I assert, a bold attempt to
emulate masculine virtues; it is not the enchantment of literary
pursuits, or the steady investigation of scientific subjects,
that leads women astray from duty. No, it is indolence and
vanity--the love of pleasure and the love of sway, that will reign
paramount in an empty mind. I say empty emphatically, because the
education which women now receive scarcely deserves the name. For the
little knowledge that they are led to acquire, during the important
years of youth, is merely relative to accomplishments; and accomplishments
without a bottom, for unless the understanding be cultivated, superficial and
monotonous is every grace. Like the charms of a made-up face, they
only strike the senses in a crowd; but at home, wanting mind, they
want variety. The consequence is obvious; in gay scenes of
dissipation we meet the artificial mind and face, for those who fly
from solitude dread, next to solitude, the domestic circle; not
having it in their power to amuse or interest, they feel their own
insignificance, or find nothing to amuse or interest themselves.
Besides, what can be more indelicate than a girl's coming out in
the fashionable world? Which, in other words, is to bring to market
a marriageable miss, whose person is taken from one public place to
another, richly caparisoned. Yet, mixing in the giddy circle under
restraint, these butterflies long to flutter at large, for the
first affection of their souls is their own persons, to which their
attention has been called with the most sedulous care whilst they
were preparing for the period that decides their fate for life.
Instead of pursuing this idle routine, fighting for tasteless show,
and heartless state, with what dignity would the youths of both
sexes form attachments in the schools that I have cursorily pointed
out; in which, as life advanced, dancing, music, and drawing) might
be admitted as relaxations, for at these schools young people of
fortune ought to remain, more or less, till they were of age. Those
who were designed for particular professions might attend, three or
four mornings in the week, the schools appropriated for their
immediate instruction.
I only drop these observations at present, as hints; rather,
indeed, as an outline of the plan I mean, than a digested one; but
I must add, that I highly approve of one regulation mentioned in
the pamphlet [5] already alluded to, that of making the children
and youths independent of the masters respecting punishments. They
should be tried by their peers, which would be an admirable method
of fixing sound principles of justice in the mind, and might have
the happiest effect on the temper, which is very early soured or
irritated by tyranny, till it becomes peevishly cunning, or
ferociously overbearing.
My imagination darts forward with benevolent fervour to greet these
amiable and respectable groups, in spite of the sneering of cold
hearts, who are at liberty to utter, with frigid self-importance,
the damning epithet--romantic; the force of which I shall endeavour
to blunt by repeating the words of an eloquent moralist: "I know
not whether the allusions of a truly humane heart, whose zeal
renders everything easy, be not preferable to that rough and
repulsing reason, which always finds an indifference for the public
good, the first obstacle to whatever would promote it."
I know that libertines will also exclaim, that woman would be
unsexed by acquiring strength of body and mind, and that beauty,
soft bewitching beauty! would no longer adorn the daughters of men.
I am of a very different opinion, for I think that, on the
contrary, we should then see dignified beauty and true grace; to
produce which, many powerful physical and moral causes would
concur. Not relaxed beauty, it is true, or the graces of
helplessness; but such as appears to make us respect the human body
as a majestic pile fit to receive a noble inhabitant, in the relics
of antiquity.
I do not forget the popular opinion that the Grecian statues were
not modelled after nature. I mean, not according to the proportion
of a particular man; but that beautiful limbs and features were
selected from various bodies to form an harmonious whole. This
might, in some degree, be true. The fine ideal picture of an
exalted imagination might be superior to the materials which the
statuary found in nature, and thus it might with propriety be
termed rather the model of mankind than of a man. It was not,
however, the mechanical selection of limbs and features; but the
ebullition of an heated fancy that burst forth, and the fine senses
and enlarged understanding the artist selected the solid matter,
which he drew into this glowing focus.
I observed that it was not mechanical because a whole was
produced--a model of that grand simplicity, of those concurring
energies, which arrest our attention and command our reverence. For
only insipid lifeless beauty is produced by a servile copy of even
beautiful nature. Yet, independent of these observations, I believe
that the human form must have been far more beautiful than it is at
present, because extreme indolence, barbarous ligatures, and many
causes, which forcibly act on it, in our luxurious state of
society, did not retard its expansion, or render it deformed.
Exercise and cleanliness appear to be not only the surest means of
preserving health, but of promoting beauty, the physical causes
only considered; yet this is not sufficient, moral ones must
concur, or beauty will be merely of that rustic kind which blooms
on the innocent, whole some countenances of some country people,
whose minds have not been exercised. To render the person perfect,
physical and moral beauty ought to be attained at the same time;
each lending and receiving force by the combination. Judgment must
reside on the brow, affection and fancy beam in the eye, and
humanity curve the cheek, or vain is the sparkling of the finest
eye or the elegantly turned finish of the fairest features; whilst
in every motion that displays the active limbs and well-knit
joints, grace and modesty should appear. But this fair assemblage
is not to be brought together by chance; it is the reward of
exertions calculated to support each other; for judgment can only
be acquired by reflection, affection by the discharge of duties,
and humanity by the exercise of compassion to every living
creature.
Humanity to animals should be particularly inculcated as a part of
national education, for it is not at present one of our national
virtues. Tenderness for their humble dumb domestics, amongst the
lower class, is oftener to be found in a savage than a civilised
state. For civilisation prevents that intercourse which creates
affection in the rude hut, or mud hovel, and leads uncultivated
minds who are only depraved by the refinements which prevail in the
society, where they are trodden under foot by the rich, to domineer
over them to revenge the insults that they are obliged to bear from
their superiors.
This habitual cruelty is first caught at school, where it is one of
the rare sports of the boys to torment the miserable brutes that
fall in their way. The transition, as they grow up, from barbarity
to brutes to domestic tyranny over wives, children, and servants,
is very easy. Justice, or even benevolence, will not be a powerful
spring of action unless it extend to the whole creation; nay, I
believe that it may be delivered as an axiom, that those who can
see pain, unmoved, will soon learn to inflict it.
The vulgar are swayed by present feelings, and the habits which
they have accidentally acquired; but on partial feelings much
dependence cannot be placed, though they be just; for, when they
are not invigorated by reflection, custom weakens them, till they
are scarcely perceptible. The sympathies of our nature are
strengthened by pondering cogitations, and deadened by thoughtless
use. Macbeth's heart smote him more for one murder, the first, than
for a hundred subsequent ones, which were necessary to back it.
But, when I used the epithet vulgar, I did not mean to confine my
remark to the poor, for partial humanity, founded on present
sensations, or whim, is quite as conspicuous, if not more so,
amongst the rich.
The lady who sheds tears for the bird starved in a snare, and
execrates the devils in the shape of men, who goad to madness the
poor ox, or whip the patient ass, tottering under a burden above
its strength, will nevertheless keep her coachman and horses whole
hours waiting for her, when the sharp frost bites, or the rain
beats against the well-closed windows which do not admit a breath
of air to tell her how roughly the wind blows without. And she who
takes her dogs to bed, and nurses them with a parade of
sensibility, when sick. will suffer her babes to grow up crooked in
a nursery. This illustration of my argument is drawn from a matter
of fact. The woman whom I allude to was handsome, reckoned very
handsome, by those who do not miss the mind when the face is plump
and fair; but her understanding had not been led from female duties
by literature, nor her innocence debauched by knowledge. No, she
was quite feminine, according to the masculine acceptation of the
word; and, so far from loving these spoiled brutes that filled the
place which her children ought to have occupied, she only lisped
out a pretty mixture of French and English nonsense, to please the
men who flocked round her. The wife, mother, and human creature,
were all swallowed up by the factitious character which an improper
education and the selfish vanity of beauty had produced.
I do not like to make a distinction without a difference, and I own
that I have been as much disgusted by the fine lady who took her
lap-dog to her bosom instead of her child; as by the ferocity of a
man, who, beating his horse, declared, that he knew as well when he
did wrong, as a Christian.
This brood of folly shows how mistaken they are who, if they allow
women to leave their harems, do not cultivate their understandings,
in order to plant virtues in their hearts. For had they sense, they
might acquire that domestic taste which would lead them to love
with reasonable subordination their whole family, from their
husband to the house dog; nor would they ever insult humanity in
the person of the most menial servant by paying more attention to
the comfort of a brute, than to that of a fellow-creature.
My observations on national education are obviously hints; but I
principally wish to enforce the necessity of educating the sexes
together to perfect both, and of making children sleep at home that
they may learn to love home; yet to make private support, instead
of smothering, public affections, they should be sent to school to
mix with a number of equals, for only by the jostlings of equality
can we form a just opinion of ourselves.
To render mankind more virtuous, and happier of course, both sexes
must act from the same principle; but how can that be expected when
only one is allowed to see the reasonableness of it? To render also
the social compact truly equitable, and in order to spread those
enlightening principles, which alone can ameliorate the fate of
man, women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge,
which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same
pursuits as men. For they are now made so inferior by ignorance and
low desires, as not to deserve to be ranked with them; or, by the
serpentine wrigglings of cunning, they mount the tree of knowledge,
and only acquire sufficient to lead men astray.
It is plain from the history of all nations, that women cannot be
confined to merely domestic pursuits, for they will not fulfil
family duties, unless their minds take a wider range, and whilst
they are kept in ignorance they become in the same proportion the
slaves of pleasure as they are the slaves of man. Nor can they be
shut out of great enterprises, though the narrowness of their minds
often make them mar, what they are unable to comprehend.
The libertinism, and even the virtues of superior men, will always
give women, of some description, great power over them; and these
weak women, under the influence of childish passions and selfish
vanity, will throw a false light over the objects which the very
men view with their eyes, who ought to enlighten their judgment.
Men of fancy, and those sanguine characters who mostly hold the
helm of human affairs, in general, relax in the society of women;
and surely I need not cite to the most superficial reader of
history the numerous examples of vice and oppression which the
private intrigues of female favourites have produced; not to dwell
on the mischief that naturally arises from the blundering
interposition of well-meaning folly.
For in the transactions of business it is much better to have to
deal with a knave than a fool, because a knave adheres to some
plan; and any plan of reason may be seen through much sooner than
a sudden flight of folly. The power which vile and foolish women
have had over wise men, who possessed sensibility, is notorious; I
shall only mention one instance.
Whoever drew a more exalted female character than Rousseau? though
in the lump he constantly endeavoured to degrade the sex. And why
was he thus anxious? Truly to justify to himself the affection
which weakness and virtue had made him cherish for that fool
Theresa. He could not raise her to the common level of her sex; and
therefore he laboured to bring woman down to hers. He found her a
convenient humble companion, and pride made him determine to find
some superior virtues in the being whom he chose to live with; but
did not her conduct during his life, and after his death, clearly
show how grossly he was mistaken who called her a celestial
innocent? Nay, in the bitterness of his heart, he himself laments
that when his bodily infirmities made him no longer treat her like
a woman, she ceased to have an affection for him. And it was very
natural that she should, for having so few sentiments in common,
when the sexual tie was broken, what was to hold her? To hold her
affection whose sensibility was confined to one sex, nay, to one
man, it requires sense to turn sensibility into the broad channel
of humanity. Many women have not mind enough to have an affection
for a woman, or a friendship for a man. But the sexual weakness
that makes woman depend on a man for a subsistence, produces a kind
of cattish affection, which leads a wife to purr about her husband
as she would about any man who fed and caressed her.
Men are, however, often gratified by this kind of fondness, which
is confined in a beastly manner to themselves; but should they ever
become more virtuous, they will wish to converse at their fireside
with a friend after they cease to play with a mistress.
Besides, understanding is necessary to give variety and interest to
sensual enjoyments, for low indeed in the intellectual scale is the
mind that can continue to love when neither virtue nor sense give
a human appearance to an animal appetite. will always preponderate;
and if women be not, in general, brought more on a level with men,
some superior like the Greek courtesans, will assemble the men of
abilities around them, and draw from their families many citizens,
who would have stayed at home had their wives had more sense, or
the graces which result from the exercise of the understanding and
fancy, the legitimate parents of taste. A woman of talents, if she
be not absolutely ugly, will always obtain great power--raised by
the weakness of her sex; and in proportion as men acquire virtue
and delicacy, by the exertion of reason, they will look for both in
women, but they can only acquire them in the same way that men do.
In France or Italy, have the women confined themselves to domestic
life? Though they have not hitherto had a political existence, yet
have they not illicitly had great sway, corrupting themselves and
the men with whose passions they played? In short, in whatever
light I view the subject, reason and experience convince me that
the only method of leading women to fulfil their peculiar duties is
to free them from all restraint by allowing them to participate the
inherent rights of mankind.
Make them free, and they will quickly become wise and virtuous, as
men become more so, for the improvement must be mutual, or the
injustice which one-half of the human race are obliged to submit to
retorting on their oppressors, the virtue of man will be worm-eaten
by the insect whom he keeps under his feet.
Let men take their choice. Man and woman were made for each other,
though not to become one being; and if they will not improve women,
they will deprave them.
I speak of the improvement and emancipation of the whole sex, for
I know that the behaviour of a few women, who, by accident, or
following a strong bent of nature, have acquired a portion of
knowledge superior to that of the rest of their sex, has often been
overbearing; but there have been instances of women who, attaining
knowledge, have not discarded modesty, nor have they always
pedantically appeared to despise the ignorance which they laboured
to disperse in their own minds. The exclamations then which any
advice respecting female learning commonly produces, especially
from pretty women, often arise from envy. When they chance to see
that even the lustre of their eyes, and the flippant sportiveness
of refined coquetry, will not always secure them attention during
a whole evening, should a woman of a more cultivated understanding
endeavour to give a rational turn to the conversation, the common
source of consolation is that such women seldom get husbands. What
arts have I not seen silly women use to interrupt by flirtation--a
very significant word to describe such a manoeuvre--a rational
conversation, which made the forget that they were pretty women.
But, allowing what is very natural to man, that the possession of
rare abilities is really calculated to excite over-weening pride,
disgusting in both men and women, in what a state of inferiority
must the female faculties have rusted when such a small portion of
knowledge as those women attained, who have sneeringly been termed
learned women, could be singular?-- sufficiently so to puff up the
possessor, and excite envy in her contemporaries, and some of the
other sex. Nay, has not a little rationality exposed many women to
the severest censure? I advert to well-known facts, for I have
frequently heard women ridiculed, and every little weakness
exposed, only because they adopted the advice of some medical men,
and deviated from the beaten track in their mode of treating their
infants. I have actually heard this barbarous aversion to
innovation carried still further, and a sensible woman stigmatised
as an unnatural mother, who has thus been wisely solicitous to
preserve the health of her children, when in the midst of her care
she has lost one by some of the casualties of infancy, which no
prudence can ward off. Her acquaintance have observed that this was
the consequence of new-fangled notions--the new-fangled notions of
ease and cleanliness. And those who pretending to experience,
though they have long adhered to prejudices that have, according to
the opinion of the most sagacious physicians, thinned the human
race, almost rejoiced at the disaster that gave a kind of sanction
to prescription.
Indeed, if it were only on this account, the national education of
women is of the utmost consequence, for what a number of human
sacrifices are made to that Moloch prejudice! And in how many ways
are children destroyed by the lasciviousness of man? The want of
natural affection in many women, who are drawn from their duty by
the admiration of men, and the ignorance of others, render the
infancy of man a much more perilous state than that of brutes; yet
men are unwilling to place women in situations proper to enable
them to acquire sufficient understanding to know how even to nurse
their babes.
So forcibly does this truth strike me that I would rest the whole
tendency of my reasoning upon it, for whatever tends to
incapacitate the maternal character, takes woman out of her sphere.
But it is vain to expect the present race of weak mothers either to
take that reasonable care of a child's body, which is necessary to
lay the foundation of a good constitution, supposing that it do not
suffer for the sins of its fathers; or to manage its temper so
judiciously that the child will not have, as it grows up, to throw
off all that its mother, its first instructor directly or
indirectly taught; and unless the mind have uncommon vigour,
womanish follies will stick to the character throughout life. The
weakness of the mother will be visited on the children. And whilst
women are educated to rely on their husbands for judgment, this
must ever be the consequence, for there is no improving an
understanding by halves, nor can any being act wisely from
imitation, because in every circumstance of life there is a kind of
individuality, which requires an exertion of judgment to modify
general rules. The being who can think justly in one track will
soon extend its intellectual empire; and she who has sufficient
judgment to manage her children will not submit, right or wrong, to
her husband, or patiently to the social laws which make a nonentity
of a wife.
In public schools women, to guard against the errors of ignorance,
should be taught the elements of anatomy an medicine, not only to
enable them to take proper care of their own health, but to make
them rational nurses of their infants, parents, and husbands; for
the bills of mortality are swelled by the blunders of self-willed
old women, who give nostrums of their own without knowing anything
of the human frame. It is likewise proper, only in a domestic view,
to make women acquainted with the anatomy of the mind, by allowing
the sexes to associate together in every pursuit, and by leading
them to observe the progress of the human understanding in the
improvement of the sciences and arts--never forgetting the science
of morality, or the study of the political history of mankind.
A man has been termed a microcosm, and every family might also be
called a state. States, it is true, have mostly been governed by
arts that disgrace the character of man, and the want of a just
constitution and equal laws have so perplexed the notions of the
worldly wise, that they more than question the reasonableness of
contending for the rights of humanity. Thus morality, polluted in
the national reservoir, sends off streams of vice to corrupt the
constituent parts of the body politic; but should more noble, or
rather more just, principles regulate the laws, which ought to be
the government of society, and not those who execute them, duty
might become the rule of private conduct.
Besides, by the exercise of their bodies and minds women would
acquire that mental activity so necessary in the maternal
character, united with the fortitude that distinguishes steadiness
of conduct from the obstinate perverseness of weakness. For it is
dangerous to advise the indolent to be steady, because they
instantly become rigorous, and to save themselves trouble, punish
with severity faults that the patient fortitude of reason might
have prevented.
But fortitude presupposes strength of mind, and is strength of mind
to be acquired by indolent acquiescence? by asking advice instead
of exerting the judgment? by obeying through fear, instead of
practising the forbearance which we all stand in need of ourselves?
The conclusion which I wish to draw is obvious. Make women rational
creatures and free citizens, and they will quickly become good
wives and mothers--that is, if men do not neglect the duties of
husbands and fathers.
Discussing the advantages which a public and private education
combined, as I have sketched, might rationally be expected to
produce, I have dwelt most on such as are particularly relative to
the female world, because I think the female world pressed; yet the
gangrene, which the vices engendered by oppression have produced,
is not confined to the morbid part, but pervades society at large;
so that when I wish to see my sex become more like moral agents, my
heart bounds with the anticipation of the general diffusion of that
sublime contentment which only morality can diffuse.
NOTES
[1] I now particularly allude to the numerous academies in and
about London, and to the behaviour of the trading part of this
city.
[2] I remember a circumstance that once came under my own
observation, and raised my indignation. I went to visit a little
boy at a school where young children were prepared for a large one.
The master took me into the schoolroom, etc., but whilst I walked
down a broad gravel walk, I could not help observing that the grass
grew very luxuriantly on each sie of me. I immediately asked the
child some questions, and found that the poor boys were not allowed
to stir off the walk, and that the master sometimes permitted sheep
to be turned in to crop the untrodden grass. The tyrant of this
domain used to sit by a window that overlooked the prison yard, and
one nook turning from it, where the unfortunate babes could sport
freely, he enclosed, and planted it with potatoes. The wife
likewise was equally anxious to keep the children in order, lest
they should dirty or tear their clothes.
[3] France.
[4] Treating this part of the subject, I have borrowedsome hints
from a very sensible pamphlet, written by the late Bishop of Autun,
on "Public Education."
[5] The Bishop of Autun's.
CHAPTER XIII
SOME INSTANCES OF THE FOLLY WHICH THE IGNORANCE
OF WOMEN GENERATES; WITH CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS ON
THE MORAL IMPROVEMENT THAT A REVOLUTION IN FEMALE
MANNERS MIGHT NATURALLY BE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE
There are many follies in some degree peculiar to women--sins
against reason of commission as well as of omission--but all
flowing from ignorance or prejudice. I shall only point out such as
appear to be particularly injurious to their moral character. And
in animadverting on them, I wish especially to prove that the
weakness of mind and body, which men have endeavoured, impelled by
various motives, to perpetuate, prevents their discharging the
peculiar duty of their sex; for when weakness of body will not
permit them to suckle their children, and weakness of mind makes
them spoil their tempers, is woman in a natural state?
Section I
One glaring instance of the weakness which proceeds from ignorance
first claims attention, and calls for severe reproof. In this
metropolis a number of lurking leeches infamously gain a
subsistence by practising on the credulity of women, pretending to
cast nativities, to use the technical phrase; and many females who,
proud of their rank and fortune, look down on the vulgar with
sovereign contempt, show by this credulity that the distinction is
arbitrary, and that they have not sufficiently cultivated their
minds to rise above vulgar prejudices. Women, because they have not
been led to consider the knowledge of their duty as the one thing
necessary to know, or to live in the present moment by the
discharge of it, are very anxious to peep into futurity to learn
what they have to expect to render life interesting, and to break
the vacuum of ignorance.
I must be allowed to expostulate seriously with the ladies who
follow these idle inventions; for ladies, mistresses of families,
are not ashamed to drive in their own carriages to door of the
cunning man.[1] And if any of them should use this work, I entreat
them to answer to their own hearts the following questions, not
forgetting that they are in presence of God:
Do you believe that there is but one God, and that He is powerful,
wise, and good?
Do you believe that all things were created by Him, and that all
beings are dependent on Him?
Do you rely on His wisdom, so conspicuous in His works, and your
own frame, and are you convinced that He has ordered things which
do not come under the cognisance of your senses, in the same
perfect harmony, to fulfil His designs?
Do you acknowledge that the power of looking into futurity, I
seeing things that are not, as if they were, is an attribute of the
Creator? And should He, by an impression on the minds His
creatures, think fit to impart to them some event hid the shades of
time yet unborn, to whom would the secret revealed by immediate
inspiration? The opinion of ages will answer this question--to
reverend old men, to people distinguished for eminent piety.
The oracles of old were thus delivered to the service of the God
who was supposed to inspire them. The glare of worldly pomp which
surrounded these impostors, the respect paid to them by artful
politicians, who knew how to avail themselves of this useful engine
to bend the necks of the strong under the dominion of the cunning,
spread a sacred mysterious veil of sanctity over their lies and
abominations. Impressed by such solemn devotional parade, a Greek
or Roman lady might be excused, if she inquired of the oracle, when
she was anxious to pry into futurity, or inquire about some dubious
event, and her inquiries, however contrary to reason, could not be
reckoned impious. But can the professors of Christianity ward off
that imputation? Can a Christian suppose that the favourites of the
Most High, the highly favoured, would be obliged to lurk in
disguise, and practise the most dishonest tricks to cheat silly
women out of the money, which the poor cry for in vain?
Say not that such questions are an insult to common sense, it is
your own conduct, O ye foolish women! which throws an odium on your
sex. And these reflections should make you shudder at your
thoughtlessness and irrational devotion. For I do not suppose that
all of you laid aside your religion, such as it is, when you
entered those mysterious dwellings. Yet, as I have throughout
supposed myself talking to ignorant women--for ignorant ye are in
the most emphatical sense of the word--it would be absurd to reason
with you on the egregious folly of desiring to know what the
Supreme Wisdom has concealed.
Probably you would not understand me were I to attempt to show you
that it would be absolutely inconsistent with the grand purpose of
life, that of rendering human creatures wise and virtuous; and
that, were it sanctioned by God, it would disturb the order
established in creation; and if it be not sanctioned by God, do you
expect to hear truth? Can events be foretold, events which have not
yet assumed a body to become subject to mortal inspection, can they
be foreseen by a vicious worldling, who pampers his appetites by
preying on the foolish ones?
Perhaps, however, you devoutly believe in the devil, and imagine,
to shift the question, that he may assist his votaries; but, if
really respecting the power of such a being, an enemy to goodness
and to God, can you go to church after having been under such an
obligation to him?
From these delusions to those still more fashionable deceptions,
practised by the whole tribe of magnetisers, the transition is very
natural. With respect to them, it is equally proper to ask women a
few questions.
Do you know anything of the construction of the human frame? if
not, it is proper that you should be told what every child ought to
know, that when its admirable economy has been disturbed by
intemperance or indolence, I speak not of violent disorders, but of
chronical diseases, it must be brought into a healthy state again,
by slow degrees, and if the functions of life have not been
materially injured, regimen, another word for temperance, air,
exercise, and a few medicines, prescribed by persons who have
studied the human body, are the only human means, yet discovered,
of recovering that inestimable blessing health, that will bear
investigation.
Do you then believe that these magnetisers, who, by hocus pocus
tricks, pretend to work a miracle, are delegated by God, or
assisted by the solver of all these kind of difficulties--the
devil?
Do they, when they put to flight, as it is said, disorders that
have baffled the powers of medicine, work in conformity to the
light of reason? or, do they effect these wonderful cures by
supernatural aid?
By a communication, an adept may answer, with the world of spirits.
A noble privilege, it must be allowed. Some of the ancients mention
familiar demons, who guarded them from danger by kindly intimating,
we cannot guess in what manner, when any danger was nigh; or,
pointed out what they ought to undertake. Yet the men who laid
claim to this privilege, out of the order of nature, insisted that
it was the reward, or consequence, of superior temperance and
piety. But the present workers of wonders are not raised above
their fellows by superior temperance or sanctity. They do not cure
for the love of God, but money. These are the priests of quackery,
though it is true they have not the convenient expedient of selling
masses for souls in purgatory, or churches where they can display
crutches, and models of limbs made sound by a touch or a word.
I am not conversant with the technical terms, or initiated into the
arcana, therefore I may speak improperly; but it is clear that men
who will not conform to the law of reason, and earn a subsistence
in an honest way, by degrees, are very fortunate in becoming
acquainted with such obliging spirits. We cannot, indeed, give them
credit for either great sagacity or goodness, else they would have
chosen more noble instruments, when they wished to show themselves
the benevolent friends of man.
It is, however, little short of blasphemy to pretend to such
powers!
From the whole tenor of the dispensations of Providence, it appears
evident to sober reason, that certain vices produce certain
effects; and can anyone so grossly insult the wisdom of God, as to
suppose that a miracle will be allowed to disturb His general laws,
to restore to health the intemperate and vicious, merely to enable
them to pursue the same course with impunity? Be whole, and sin no
more, said Jesus. And, are greater miracles to be performed by
those who do not follow His footsteps, who healed the body to reach
the mind?
The mentioning of the name of Christ, after such vile impostors,
may displease some of my readers--I respect their warmth; but let
them not forget that the followers of these delusions bear His
name, and profess to be the disciples of Him, who said, by their
works we should know who were the children of God or the servants
of sin. I allow that it is easier to touch the body of a saint, or
to be magnetised, than to restrain our appetites or govern our
passions; but health of body or mind can only be recovered by these
means, or we make the Supreme Judge partial and revengeful.
Is He a man that He should change, or punish out of resentment?
He--the common father, wounds but to heal, say reason, and our
irregularities producing certain consequences, we are forcibly
shown the nature of vice: that thus learning to know good from
evil, by experience, we may hate one and love the other, in
proportion to the wisdom which we attain. The poison contains the
antidote; and we either reform our evil habits and cease to sin
against our own bodies, to use the forcible language of Scripture,
or a premature death, the punishment of sin, snaps the thread of
life.
Here an awful stop is put to our inquiries. But, why should I
conceal my sentiments? Considering the attributes of God, I believe
that whatever punishment may follow, will tend, like the anguish of
disease, to show the malignity of vice, for the purpose of
reformation. Positive punishment appears so contrary to the nature
of God, discoverable in all His works, and in our own reason, that
I could sooner believe that the Deity paid no attention to the
conduct of men, than that He punished without the benevolent design
of reforming.
To suppose only that an all-wise and powerful Being, as good as He
is great, should create a being foreseeing, that after fifty or
sixty years of feverish existence, it would be plunged into
never-ending woe--is blasphemy. On what will the worm feed that is
never to die? on folly, on ignorance, say ye--I should blush
indignantly at drawing the natural conclusion could I insert it,
and wish to withdraw myself from the wing of my God! On such a
supposition, I speak with reverence, He would be a consuming fire.
We should wish, though vainly, to fly from His presence when fear
absorbed love, and darkness involved all His counsels!
I know that many devout people boast of submitting to the will of
God blindly, as to an arbitrary sceptre or rod, on the same
principle as the Indians worship the devil. In other words, like
people in the common concerns of life, they homage to power, and
cringe under the foot that can crush them. Rational religion, on
the contrary, is a submission to the will of a being so perfectly
wise, that all he wills must be directed by the proper motive--must
be reasonable.
And, if thus we respect God, can we give credit to mysterious
insinuations, which insult His laws? can we believe, though it
should stare us in the face, that He would work a miracle to
authorise confusion by sanctioning an error? Yet we must either
allow these impious conclusions, or treat with contempt every
promise to restore health to a diseased body by supernatural means,
or to foretell the incidents that can only be foreseen by God.
SECTION II
Another instance of that feminine weakness of character, often
produced by a confined education, is a romantic twist of the mind,
which has been very properly termed sentimental.
Women subjected by ignorance to their sensations, and only taught
to look for happiness in love, refine on sensual feelings and adopt
metaphysical notions respecting that passion, which lead them
shamefully to neglect the duties of life, and frequently in the
midst of these sublime refinements they plump into actual vice.
These are the women who are amused by the reveries of the stupid
novelists, who, knowing little of human nature, work up stale
tales, and describe meretricious scenes, all retailed in a
sentimental jargon, which equally tend to corrupt the taste, and
draw the heart aside from its daily duties. I do not mention the
understanding, because never having been exercised, its slumbering
energies rest inactive, like the lurking particles of fire which
are supposed universally to pervade matter.
Females, in fact, denied all political privileges, and not allowed,
as married women, excepting in criminal cases, a civil existence,
have their attention naturally drawn from the interest of the whole
community to that of the minute parts, though the private duty of
any member of society must be very imperfectly performed when not
connected with the general good. The mighty business of female life
is to please, and restrained from entering into more important
concerns by political and civil oppression, sentiments become
events, and reflection deepens what it should, and would have
effaced, if the understanding had been allowed to take a wider
range.
But, confined to trifling employments, they naturally imbibe
opinions which the only kind of reading calculated to interest an
innocent frivolous mind inspires. Unable to grasp anything great,
is it surprising that they find the reading of history a very
dry task, and disquisitions addressed to the understanding
intolerably tedious, and almost unintelligible? Thus are they
necessarily dependent on the novelist for amusement. Yet, when I
exclaim against novels, I mean when contrasted with those works
which exercise the understanding and regulate the imagination. For
any kind of reading I think better than leaving a blank still a
blank, because the mind must receive a degree of enlargement and
obtain a little strength by a slight exertion of its thinking
powers; besides, even the productions that are only addressed to
the imagination, raise the reader a little above the gross
gratification of appetites, to which the mind has not given a shade
of delicacy.
This observation is the result of experience; for I have known
several notable women, and one in particular, who was a very good
woman--as good as such a narrow mind would allow her to be, who
took care that her daughters (three in number) should never see a
novel. As she was a woman of fortune and fashion, they had various
masters to attend them, and a sort of menial governess to watch
their footsteps. From their masters they learned how tables,
chairs, etc., were called in French and Italian; but as the few
books thrown in their way were far above their capacities, or
devotional, they neither acquired ideas nor sentiments, and passed
their time, when not compelled to repeat words, in dressing,
quarrelling with each other, or conversing with their maids by
stealth, till they were brought into company as marriageable.
Their mother, a widow, was busy in the meantime in keeping up her
connections, as she termed a numerous acquaintance, lest her girls
should want a proper introduction into the great world. And these
young ladies, with minds vulgar in every sense of the word, and
spoiled tempers, entered life puffed up with notions of their own
consequence, and looking down with contempt on those who could not
vie with them in dress and parade.
With respect to love, Nature, or their Nurses, had taken care to
teach them the physical meaning of the word; and, as they had few
topics of conversation, and fewer refinements of sentiment, they
expressed their gross wishes not in very delicate phrases, when
they spoke freely, talking of matrimony.
Could these girls have been injured by the perusal of novels? I
almost forgot a shade in the character of one of them; she affected
a simplicity bordering on folly, and with a simper would utter the
most immodest remarks and questions, the full meaning of which she
had learned whilst secluded from the world, and to speak in her
mother's presence, who governed with a hand; they were all
educated, as she prided herself, in a most exemplary manner, and
read their chapters before breakfast, never touching a silly novel.
This only one instance; but I recollect many other women not led by
degrees to proper studies, and not permitted to choose for
themselves, have indeed been overgrown children; or have obtained,
by mixing in the world, a little of what is termed common sense;
that is, a distinct manner of seeing common occurrences, as they
stand detached; but what deserves name of intellect, the power of
gaining, general or abstract, or even intermediate ones, was out of
the question. Their minds were quiescent, and when they were not
roused by sensible objects and employments of that kind, they were
spirited, would cry, or go to sleep.
When, therefore, I advise my sex not to read such flimsy works, it
is to induce them to read something superior; for I coincide in
opinion with a sagacious man, who, having a daughter and niece
under his care, pursued a very different with each.
The niece, who had considerable abilities, had, before she left to
his guardianship, been indulged in desultory reading. Her he
endeavoured to lead, and did lead to history and moral essays; but
his daughter, whom a fond weak mother had indulged, and who
consequently was averse to everything like fornication, he allowed
to read novels; and used to justify his conduct by saying, that if
she ever attained a relish for reading them, he should have some
foundation to work upon; and that erroneous opinions were better
than none at all.
In fact, the female mind has been so totally neglected, that
knowledge was only to be acquired from this muddy source, till from
reading novels some women of superior talents learned to despise
them.
The best method, I believe, that can be adopted to correct a
fondness for novels is to ridicule them: not indiscriminately, for
then it would have little effect; but, if a judicious person, with
some turn for humour, would read several to a young girl and point
out both by tones, and apt comparisons with pathetic incidents and
heroic characters in history, how foolishly and ridiculously they
caricatured human nature, just opinions might substituted instead
of romantic sentiments.
In one respect, however, the majority of both sexes resemble,
and equally show a want of taste and modesty. Ignorant women,
forced to be chaste to preserve their reputation, allow their
imagination to revel in the unnatural and meretricious scenes
sketched by the novel writers of the day, slighting as insipid the
sober dignity, and matron graces of history,[2] whilst men carry
the same vitiated taste into life, and fly for amusement to the
wanton, from the unsophisticated charms of virtue, and the grave
respectability of sense.
Besides, the reading of novels makes women, and particularly ladies
of fashion, very fond of using strong expressions and superlatives
in conversation; and, though the dissipated artificial life which
they lead prevents their cherishing any strong legitimate passion,
the language of passion in affected tones slips for ever from their
glib tongues, and every trifle produces those phosphoric bursts
which only mimic in the dark the flame of passion.
SECTION III
Ignorance and the mistaken cunning that nature sharpens in weak
heads as a principle of self-preservation, render women very fond
of dress, and produce all the vanity which such a fondness may
naturally be expected to generate, to the exclusion of emulation
and magnanimity.
I agree with Rousseau that the physical part of the art of pleasing
consists in ornaments, and for that very reason I should guard
girls against the contagious fondness for dress so common to weak
women, that they may not rest in the physical part. Yet, weak are
the women who imagine that they can long please without the aid of
the mind, or, in other words, without the moral art of pleasing.
But the moral art, if it be not a profanation to use the word art,
when alluding to the grace which is an effect of virtue, and not
the motive of action, is never to be found with ignorance; the
sportiveness of innocence, so pleasing to refined libertines of
both sexes, is widely different in its essence from this superior
gracefulness.
A strong inclination for external ornaments ever appears in
barbarous states, only the men not the women adorn themselves; for
where women are allowed to be so far on a level with men, society
has advanced, at least, one step in civilisation.
The attention to dress, therefore, which has been thought a sexual
propensity, I think natural to mankind. But I ought to express
myself with more precision. When the mind is not sufficiently
opened to take pleasure in reflection, the body will be adorned
with sedulous care; and ambition will appear in tattooing or
painting it.
So far is this first inclination carried, that even the hellish
yoke of slavery cannot stifle the savage desire of admiration which
the black heroes inherit from both their parents, for all the
hardly earned savings of a slave are commonly expended in a little
tawdry finery. And I have seldom known a good male or female
servant that was not particularly fond of dress. Their clothes were
their riches; and, I argue from analogy, that the fondness for
dress, so extravagant in females, arises from the same cause--want
of cultivation of mind. When men meet they converse about business,
politics, or literature; but, says Swift, "how naturally do women
apply their hands to each other's lappets and ruffles." And very
natural is it--for they have not any business to interest them,
have not a taste for literature, and they find politics dry,
because they have not acquired a love for mankind by turning their
thoughts to the grand pursuits that exalt the human race, and
promote general happiness.
Besides, various are the paths to power and fame which by accident
or choice men pursue, and though they jostle against each other,
for men of the same profession are seldom friends, yet there is a
much greater number of their fellow-creatures with whom they never
clash. But women are very differently situated with respect to each
other--for they are all rivals.
Before marriage it is their business to please men; and after, with
a few exceptions, they follow the same scene with all the
persevering pertinacity of instinct. Even virtuous women never
forget their sex in company, for they are for ever trying to make
themselves agreeable. A female beauty, and a male wit, appear to be
equally anxious to draw the attention of the company to themselves;
and the animosity of contemporary wits is proverbial.
Is it then surprising, that when the sole ambition of woman centres
in beauty, and interest gives vanity additional force perpetual
rivalships should ensue? They are all running the same race, and
would rise above the virtue of mortals, if they did not view each
other with a suspicious and even envious eye.
An immoderate fondness for dress, for pleasure, and for sway,
are the passions of savages; the passions that occupy those
uncivilised beings who have not yet extended the dominion of the
mind, or even learned to think with the energy necessary to
concatenate that abstract train of thought which produces
principles. And that women from their education and the present
state of civilised life, are in the same condition, cannot, I think
be controverted. To laugh at them then, or satirise the follies of
a being who is never to be allowed to act freely from the light of
her own reason, is as absurd as cruel; for, that they who are
taught blindly to obey authority, will endeavour cunningly to elude
it, is most natural and certain.
Yet let it be proved that they ought to obey man implicitly, and I
shall immediately agree that it is woman's duty to cultivate a
fondness for dress, in order to please, and a propensity to cunning
for her own preservation.
The virtues, however, which are supported by ignorance must ever be
wavering--the house built on sand could not endure a storm. It is
almost unnecessary to draw the inference. If women are to be made
virtuous by authority, which is a contradiction in terms, let them
be immured in seraglios and watched with a jealous eye. Fear not
that the iron will enter into their souls--for the souls that can
bear such treatment are made of yielding materials, just animated
enough to give life to the body.
Matter too soft a lasting mark to bear
And best distinguished by black, brown, or fair.
The most cruel wounds will of course soon heal, and they may still
people the world, and dress to please man--all the purpose! which
certain celebrated writers have allowed that they were created to
fulfil.
SECTION IV
Women are supposed to possess more sensibility, and even humanity,
than men, and their strong attachments and instantaneous emotions
of compassion are given as proofs; but the clinging affection of
ignorance has seldom anything noble in it, and may mostly be
resolved into selfishness, as well as the affection of children and
brutes. I have known many weak women whose sensibility was entirely
engrossed by their husbands; and as for their humanity, it was very
faint indeed, or rather it was only a transient emotion of
compassion. Humanity does not consist "in a squeamish ear," says an
eminent orator belongs to the mind as well as the nerves."
But this kind of exclusive affection, though it degrades the
individual, should not be brought forward as a proof of the
inferiority of the sex, because it is the natural consequence of
confined views; for even women of superior sense, having their
attention turned to little employments, and private plans, rarely
rise to heroism, unless when spurred on by love! and love, as an
heroic passion, like genius, appears but once in an age. therefore
agree with the moralist who asserts, "that women have seldom so
much generosity as men"; and that their narrow affections, to which
justice and humanity are often sacrificed, render the sex
apparently inferior, especially, as they are commonly inspired by
men; but I contend that the heart would expand as the understanding
gained strength, if women re not depressed from their cradles.
I know that a little sensibility, and great weakness, will produce
a strong sexual attachment, and that reason must cement friendship;
consequently, I allow that more friendship is to be found in the
male than the female world, and that men have a higher sense of
justice. The exclusive affections women seem indeed to resemble
Cato's most unjust love for his country. He wished to crush
Carthage, not to save Rome, but to promote its vain-glory; and, in
general, it is to similar principles that humanity is sacrificed,
for genuine duties support each other.
Besides, how can women be just or generous, when they are slaves of
injustice?
SECTION V
As the rearing of children, that is, the laying a foundation of
sound health both of body and mind in the rising generation, has
justly been insisted on as the peculiar destination of woman
ignorance that incapacitates them must be contrary to the order of
things. And I contend that their minds can take in much more, and
ought to do so, or they will never become sensible mothers. Many
men attend to the breeding of horses overlook the management of the
stable, who would, strange want of sense and feeling! think
themselves degraded by paying attention to the nursery; yet, how
many children are absolutely murdered by the ignorance of women!
But when they escape, and are destroyed neither by unnatural
negligence nor blind fondness, how few are managed properly with
respect to the infant mind! So that to break the spirit, allowed to
become vicious at home, a child is sent to school; and the methods
taken there, which must be taken to keep a number of children in
order, scatter the seeds of almost every vice in the soil thus
forcibly torn up.
I have sometimes compared the struggles of these poor children, who
ought never to have felt restraint, nor would, had they been always
held in with an even hand, to the despairing plunges of a spirited
filly, which I have seen breaking on a strand: its feet sinking
deeper and deeper in the sand every time it endeavoured to throw
its rider, till at last it sullenly submitted.
I have always found horses, animals I am attached to, very
tractable when treated with humanity and steadiness, so that I
doubt whether the violent methods taken to break them, do not
essentially injure them; I am, however, certain that a child should
never be thus forcibly tamed after it had injudiciously been
allowed to run wild: for every violation of justice and reason, in
the treatment of children, weakens their reason. And, so early do
they catch a character, that the base of the moral character,
experience leads me to infer, is fixed before their seventh year,
the period during which women are allowed the sole management of
children. Afterwards it too often happens that half the business of
education is to correct, and very imperfectly is it done, if done
hastily, the faults, which they would never have acquired if their
mothers had had more understanding.
One striking instance of the folly of women must not be omitted.
The manner in which they treat servants in the presence of
children, permitting them to suppose that they ought to wait on
them, and bear their humours. A child should always be made to
receive assistance from a man or woman as a favour; and, as the
first lesson of independence, they should practically be taught, by
the example of their mother, not to require that personal
attendance, which it is an insult to humanity to require, when in
health; and instead of being led to assume airs of consequence, a
sense of their own weakness should first make them feel the natural
equality of man. Yet, how frequently have I indignantly heard
servants imperiously called to put children to bed, and sent away
again and again, because master or miss hung about mamma, to stay
a little longer. Thus made slavishly to attend the little idol, all
those most disgusting humours were exhibited which characterise a
spoiled child.
In short, speaking of the majority of mothers, they leave their
children entirely to the care of servants; or, because they are
their children, treat them as if they were little demi-gods though
I have always observed, that the women who thus idolise their
children, seldom show common humanity to servants, or feel the
least tenderness for any children but their own.
It is, however, these exclusive affections, and an individual
manner of seeing things, produced by ignorance, which keep women
for ever at a stand, with respect to improvement, and make many of
them dedicate their lives to their children only to weaken their
bodies and spoil their tempers, frustrating also any plan of
education that a more rational father may adopt. for unless a
mother concur, the father who restrains will ever be considered as
a tyrant.
But, fulfilling the duties of a mother, a woman with a sound
constitution, may still keep her person scrupulously neat, and
assist to maintain her family, if necessary, or by reading and
conversation with both sexes, indiscriminately, improve her mind.
For Nature has so wisely ordered things, that did women suckle
their children, they would preserve their own health and there
would be such an interval between the birth of each child, that we
should seldom see a houseful of babes. And did they pursue a plan
of conduct, and not waste their time in following the fashionable
vagaries of dress, the management of their household and children
need not shut them out from literature, or prevent their attaching
themselves to a science with that steady eye which strengthens the
mind, or practising one of the fine arts that cultivate the taste.
But, visiting to display finery, card-playing, and balls, not to
mention the idle bustle of morning trifling, draw women from their
duty to render them insignificant, to render them pleasing,
according to the present acceptation of the word, to every man but
their husband. For a round of pleasures in which the affections are
not exercised, cannot be said to improve the understanding, though
it be erroneously called seeing the world. yet the heart is
rendered cold and averse to duty, by such a senseless intercourse,
which becomes necessary from habit even when it has ceased to
amuse.
But, we shall not see women affectionate till more equality be
established in society, till ranks are confounded and women freed,
neither shall we see that dignified domestic happiness, the simple
grandeur of which cannot be relished by ignorant or vitiated minds;
nor will the important task of education ever be properly begun
till the person of a woman is no longer preferred to her mind. For
it would be as wise to expect corn from tares, or figs from
thistles, as that a foolish ignorant woman should be a good mother.
SECTION VI
It is not necessary to inform the sagacious reader, now I enter on
my concluding reflections, that the discussion of this subject
merely consists in opening a few simple principles, and clearing
away the rubbish which obscured them. But, as all readers are not
sagacious, I must be allowed to add some explanatory remarks to
bring the subject home to reason--to that sluggish reason, which
supinely takes opinions on trust, and obstinately supports them to
spare itself the labour of thinking.
Moralists have unanimously agreed, that unless virtue be nursed by
liberty, it will never attain due strength--and what they say of
man I extend to mankind, insisting that in all cases morals must be
fixed on immutable principles; and, that the being cannot be termed
rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason.
To render women truly useful members of society, I argue that they
should be led, by having their understandings cultivated on a large
scale, to acquire a rational affection for their country, founded
on knowledge, because it is obvious that we are little interested
about what we do not understand. And to render this general
knowledge of due importance, I have endeavoured to show that
private duties are never properly fulfilled unless the
understanding enlarges the heart; and that public virtue is only an
aggregate of private. But, the distinctions established in society
undermine both, by beating out the solid gold of virtue, till it
becomes only the tinsel-covering of vice; for whilst wealth renders
a man more respectable than virtue, wealth will be sought before
virtue; and, whilst women's persons are caressed, when a childish
simper shows an absence of mind--the mind will lie fallow. Yet,
true voluptuousness must proceed from the mind--for what can equal
the sensations produced by mutual affection, supported by mutual
respect? What are the cold, or feverish caresses of appetite, but
sin embracing death, compared with the modest overflowings of a
pure heart and exalted imagination? Yes, let me tell the libertine
of fancy when he despises understanding in woman-- that the mind,
which he disregards, gives life to the enthusiastic affection from
which rapture, short-lived as it is, alone can flow! And, that,
without virtue, a sexual attachment must expire like a tallow
candle in the socket, creating intolerable disgust. To prove this,
I need only observe, that men who have wasted great part of their
lives with women, and with whom they have sought for pleasure with
eager thirst, entertain the meanest opinion of the sex. Virtue,
true refiner of joy!--if foolish men were to fright thee from
earth, in order to give loose to all their appetites without a
check--some sensual wight of taste would scale the heavens to
invite thee back, to give a zest to pleasure!
That women at present are by ignorance rendered vicious, is, I
think, not to be disputed; and, that salutary effects tending to
improve mankind might be expected from a REVOLUTION in female
manners, appears, at least, with a face of probability, to rise out
of the observation. For as marriage has been termed the parent of
those endearing charities which draw man from the brutal herd, the
corrupting intercourse that wealth, idleness, and folly, produce
between the sexes, is more universally injurious to morality than
all the other vices of mankind collectively considered. To
adulterous lust the most sacred duties are sacrificed, because
before marriage, men, by a promiscuous intimacy with women, learned
to consider love as a selfish gratification--learned to separate it
not only from esteem, but from the affection merely built on habit
which mixes a little humanity with it. Justice and friendship are
also set at defiance, and that purity of taste is vitiated which
would naturally lead a man to relish an artless display of
affection rather than affected airs. But that noble simplicity of
affection, which dares to appear unadorned, has few attractions for
the libertine, though it be the charm, which by cementing the
matrimonial tie, secures to the pledges of a warmer passion the
necessary parental attention; for children will never be properly
educated till friendship subsists between parents. Virtue flies
from a house divided against itself--and a whole legion of devils
take up their residence there.
The affection of husbands and wives cannot be pure when they have
so few sentiments in common, and when so little confidence is
established at home, as must be the case when their pursuits are so
different. That intimacy from which tenderness should flow, will
not, cannot subsist between the vicious.
Contending, therefore, that the sexual distinction which men have
so warmly insisted upon, is arbitrary, I have dwelt on an
observation, that several sensible men, with whom I have conversed
on the subject, allowed to be well founded; and it is simply this,
that the little chastity to be found amongst men, and consequent
disregard of modesty, tend to degrade both sexes; and further, that
the modesty of women, characterised as such, will often be only the
artful veil of wantonness instead of being the natural reflection
of purity, till modesty be universally respected.
From the tyranny of man, I firmly believe, the greater number of
female follies proceed; and the cunning, which I allow makes at
present a part of their character, I likewise have repeatedly
endeavoured to prove, is produced by oppression.
Were not dissenters, for instance, a class of people, with strict
truth, characterised as cunning? And may I not lay some stress on
this fact to prove, that when any power but reason curbs the free
spirit of man, dissimulation is practised, and the various shifts
of art are naturally called forth? Great attention to decorum,
which was carried to a degree of scrupulosity, and all that puerile
bustle about trifles and consequential solemnity, which Butler's
caricature of a dissenter brings before the imagination, shaped
their persons as well as their minds in the mould of prim
littleness. I speak collectively, for I know how many ornaments in
human nature have been enrolled amongst sectaries; yet, I assert,
that the same narrow prejudice for their sect, which women have for
their families, prevailed in the dissenting part of the community,
however worthy in other respects; and also that the same timid
prudence, or headstrong efforts, often disgraced the exertions of
both. oppression thus formed many of the features of their
character perfectly to coincidence with that of the oppressed half
of mankind; for is it not notorious that dissenters were, like
women, fond of deliberating together, and asking advice of each
other, till by a complication of little contrivances, some little
end was brought about? A similar attention to preserve their
reputation was conspicuous in the dissenting and female world, and
was produced by a similar cause.
Asserting the rights which women in common with men ought to
contend for, I have not attempted to extenuate their faults; but to
prove them to be the natural consequence of their education and
station in society. If so, it is reasonable to suppose that they
will change their character, and correct their vices and follies,
when they are allowed to be free in a physical, moral, and civil
sense.[3]
Let woman share the rights, and she will emulate the virtues of
man; for she must grow more perfect when emancipated, or justify
the authority that chains such a weak being to her duty. If the
latter, it will be expedient to open a fresh trade with Russia for
whips: a present which a father should always make to his
son-in-law on his wedding day, that a husband may keep his whole
family in order by the same means; and without any violation of
justice reign, wielding this sceptre, sole master of his house,
because he is the only thing in it who has reason:--the divine,
indefeasible earthly sovereignty breathed into man by the Master of
the universe. Allowing this position, women have not any inherent
rights to claim; and, by the same rule, their duties vanish, for
rights and duties are inseparable.
Be just then, O ye men of understanding: and mark not more severely
what women do amiss than the vicious tricks of the horse or the ass
for whom ye provide provender--and allow her the privileges of
ignorance, to whom ye deny the rights of reason, or ye will be
worse than Egyptian task-masters expecting virtue where Nature has
not given understanding.
NOTES
[1] I once lived in the neighbourhood of one of these men, a
handsome man, and saw with surprise and indignation women, whose
appearance and attendance bespoke that rank in which females are
supposed to receive a superior education, flock to his door.
[2] I am not now alluding to that superiority of mind which leads
to the creation of ideal beauty, when life, surveyed with a
penetrating eye, appears a tragi-comedy, in which little can be
seen to satisfy the heart without the help of fancy.
[3] I had further enlarged on the advantages which might
reasonably be expected to result from an improvement in female
manners, towards the general reformation of society; but it
appeared to me that such reflections would more properly close the
last volume.
[End]